RA  390  . A2  W55  1899 
Williamson,  J.  Rutter 
The  healing  of  the  nations 


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The  Healing  of  the  Nations 


BY  J.  RUTTER  WI 

(M.B.,  Edinburgh  University) 

Traveling  Secretary  Student  VoJunt&?  Movement 
Late  Chairman  British  Student  Volunteer  Missionary  Union 
Member  of  British  Medical  Association 


A Treatise  on  Medical  Missi 
Statement  and  Ap 


OCT  1 9 1912 


TSat  roil  TrarafLov  Ivrtvdcv  icat  haiftaf  fulov  votovv  Kapirrwc  diriaui, 
tazra  pfjva  cnaa~m>  q.ko6i6ovv  rdv  Kapron  avroi , kqI  ru  <puUa  tow  fwAow  eigl 
Gepaneiau  Tin/  efouv.— -Rev,  xxii.  2. 


NEW  YORK 

Student  Volunteer  Movement  for  Foreign  Missions 


COPYRIGHT,  1899,  BY 
STUDENT  VOLUNTEER  MOVEMENT 
¥OA  FOREIGN  MISSIONS. 


TO 

MY  MOTHER 

WHOSE  constant  and  enduring  INTEREST  in 
THE  WORK  OF 
WORLD-WIDE  MISSIONS 
TOUCHED  MY  CHILDISH  FANCIES 
STIRRED  THE  IMAGINATION  OF  MY  BOYISH  YEARS 
AND 

DEEPENED  THE  PURPOSES  OF  MY  MANHOOD 
IS  THIS  little  BOOK 
AFFECTIONATELY  DEDICATED 


BY  HER  SON 


PREFACE 


This  little  volume  has  been  written  primarily  to  pro- 
vide an  outline  of  Medical  Missions,  for  the  use  of  stu- 
dents and  young  people  in  Missionary  Study  Classes. 
There  has  also  been  kept  in  mind  the  far  larger  circle  of 
Christian  people  whose  interest  in  the  work  of  Missionary 
Medicine  has  been  limited  by  their  scanty  information  on 
the  subject.  It  is  not  such  a book  as  would  be  read  aloud, 
for  instance,  at  a women’s  sewing  meeting,  but  it  is  rather 
intended  for  study  and  individual  perusal.  Its  aim  is  to 
present  facts  that  ought  to  be  pondered  in  the  hearts  of 
Christian  men  and  women  in  the  Church  of  Christ,  and 
the  subject  makes  a special  claim  upon  the  consideration 
of  those  who  are  members  of  the  medical  and  nursing 
professions. 

There  is  no  classic  on  Medical  Missions,  unless  we  ex- 
cept the  Gospels.*  There  is  need  of  one.  No  one,  for 
instance,  has,  as  far  as  we  are  aware,  worked  out  at  all 
fully  the  psychological  aspects  of  the  subject.  In  the 
standard  works  on  psychology,  we  have  been  able  to  dis- 
cover but  little  dealing  with  the  psychology  of  the  relig- 
ious emotions  which  were  generated  in  the  hearts  of  men 
and  women  through  the  touch  of  Christ.  Artists  and 
poets,  with  their  intuitive  perceptions,  almost  always  tell 
of  personal  contact  between  the  Saviour  and  those  healed. 
Though  not  apparently  bearing  much  on  the  actual  claims 
that  suffering  makes  on  the  medical  profession,  this  would 

♦The  nearest  approximation  to  a classic  •'?,  possibly,  “Medical  Missions:  Their 
Place  and  Power,’1  by  Dr.  John  Lowe. 


Preface 


be  at  least  an  interesting  as  well  as  a valuable  scientific 
contribution  to  the  subject. 

Somewhat  more  has  appeared  in  the  realm  of  Sociology 
and  the  wider  influence  upon  public  life  that  Medical 
Missions  have  had.  Dr.  James  S.  Dennis’s  unsurpassed 
work  on  “ Christian  Missions  and  Social  Progress  ” gives 
an  important  section  to  the  consideration  of  this  topic. 
There  is  great  need  for  some  work  which  would  co-ordi- 
nate the  fast  accumulating  material  on  Medical  Missions 
in  periodical  literature,  and  marshal  its  principles  and 
practices  into  a harmonious  whole. 

As  a text-book,  this  is  necessarily  but  a meager  outline 
of  the  subject.  The  argument  from  Scripture  we  have 
taken  for  granted  throughout.  It  is  a topic  which  has  re- 
ceived generous  treatment  at  the  hands  of  other  writers, 
and  therefore  did  not  seem  to  demand  the  emphasis  that 
has  been  laid  on  other  less  frequently  noticed  aspects. 

Our  warmest  thanks  are  due  to  Dr.  James  S.  Dennis 
for  his  valuable  assistance  and  suggestions  as  well  as  for 
permission  to  use  the  statistics  given  on  page  eighty-nine. 

J.  R.  W. 


New  York,  June  i,  1899. 


CONTENTS 


I.  Argument  for  Medical  Missions  . . . . 

Foreword — Association  of  Medicine  and  Religion — 
Definition  — Purpose  — Necessity  for  Considera- 
tion— Argument  for  Medical  Missions — Ignorance 
of  Native  Doctors  — Strange  Pharmacopoeia  — 
Ophthalmia — Superstition — Maternity. 

II.  Malpractice  in  Heathen  Lands  . . . . 

Brotherly  Love — Cruelty  of  Treatment — Maternity — 
A Powerful  Apologetic  of  Christianity — Insane — 
Malpractice — The  Epiphany  of  Exalted  Woman- 
hood— Cruelty  to  the  Doors  of  Death. 

III.  Value  of  Medical  Missions  ...... 

The  Responsibility  of  Missionaries’  Health — Con- 
tributions to  Medical  Knowledge  by  Missionary 
Doctors  — Temptations  of  Professional  Life  — 
Dignity  of  Profession — Need  to  God — A Pioneer 
Agent  — Influence  in  Mohammedan  Lands  — 
Spiritual  Results. 

IV.  Influence  of  Medical  Missions  .... 

Gratitude  — Humiliation  of  Sickness — Sociological 
Influences — Incentive  to  Education — Uplifting 
Womanhood — Contributions  to  Science — Stimu- 
lates Benevolence. 

V.  Preparation  of  the  Medical  Missionary  . 

Many-sidedness — Sanitary  Reforms — “A  Hiding  Place 
from  the  Wind” — Mortality — Preparation  of  the 
Profession  — Technical  Armament  — Listerism— 
Chloroform — N ursing — Spiritual  Successes. 

VT.  An  Appeal  ............ 

The  Daily  Round  — Diversity  of  Duties  — Diseases 
Prevalent — Difficulties  of  Work — Qualifications  of 
a Medical  Missionary — Professional  Attainments 
— Statistics  of  Medical  Missions — Appeal. 


Page 

7 


21 


35 


5i 


67 


81 


Bibliography 


96 


ARGUMENT  FOR  MEDICAL  MISSIONS 


“ I am  in  earnest ; I will  not  equivocate,  I will  not  excuse.  I will 
not  retreat  a single  inch  and  I will  be  heard.” 

— William  Lloyd  Garrison. 

“ My  country  is  the  world.  My  countrymen  are  all  mankind.” 

— William  Lloyd  Garrison. 

“ The  world’s  a room  of  sickness,  where  each  heart 
Knows  its  own  anguish  and  unrest  ; 

The  truest  wisdom  there  and  noblest  art 
Is  his  who  skills  of  comfort  best.” 

— Keble. 

“ I have  long  since  ceased  to  pray  ‘ Lord  Jesus,  have  compassion  on  a 
lost  world.’  I remember  the  day  and  the  hour  when  I seemed  to  hear  the 
Lord  rebuking  me  for  making  such  a prayer.  He  seemed  to  say  to  me, 
‘ I have  had  compassion  upon  a lost  world  and  now  it  is  time  for  you  to 
have  compassion.  I have  left  you  to  fill  up  that  which  is  wanting  in 
Mine  afflictions  in  the  flesh  for  the  body’s  sake,  which  is  the  Church.  I 
have  given  My  heart ; now  give  your  hearts.’  ” 

— A.  /.  Gordon. 


“ The  student  of  social  philosophy  in  determining  the  stage  of  civili- 
zation at  which  any  nation  has  arrived  regards  as  an  almost  infallible 
criterion  the  degree  of  esteem  in  which  its  women  are  held.” 

— Edward  Balfour. 


© 


THE  HEALING  OF  THE  NATIONS 


i 

ARGUMENT  FOR  MEDICAL  MISSIONS 

An  old  church  in  Damascus  which  was  built  in 
Foreword,  earjy  cjayS  Qf  Christianity,  had  the  words 
“ To  the  Glory  of  God,”  inscribed  over  the  portal.  The 
Muhammedans  captured  it  and  plastered  it  over.  Now 
the  plaster  has  fallen  and  revealed  the  old  inscription.  In 
the  spring  days  of  the  Christian  Era  deeds  of  mercy  to 
the  sick  were  counted  part  of  the  life  of  love  which  the 
Lover  of  Men  had  infused  into  His  followers. 

These  kindly  offices  to  those  stricken  in  body  have  ever 
been  a glory  of  Christianity.  Though  sometimes  in  the 
clash  and  clangor  of  doctrinal  strife  the  Church  has  well 
nigh  forgotten  its  ministry  to  the  sick,  yet  its  neglect 
has  been  but  for  a little  season,  to  be  renewed  by  at  least 
some  select  and  holy  souls,  with  greater  fervency  and  de- 
votion. 

The  association  of  Religion  and  Medicine  is  perfectly 
natural.  The  Christian  religion  claims  to  complete  and 
consummate,  as  well  as  to  comprehend,  the  ends  of  Medi- 
cine. A God  is  only  thinkable  in  terms  of  everlasting 
life.  “ We  are  the  ministers  of  life.  He  is  the  Prince 
of  Life.  We  fight  against  death  and  are  all  defeated. 
Death  assailed  Him  and  He  vanquished  death.”  In  this 
fight  for  length  of  life  He  is  not  ashamed  to  call  us  breth- 
ren. The  justification  of  the  marriage  between  healing 
and  preaching  is  the  life  of  Christ.  It  was  reserved  for 
these  closing  days  of  the  second  thousand  years  of  Chris- 
tianity to  revive  on  a comparatively  large  scale  the  work 
of  treating  the  sick,  in  demonstration  of  the  love  of  God 
toward  their  bodies  as  well  as  souls.  In  no  sphere  is 
this  demonstration  more  needed  than  among  those  who 
have  never  yet  heard  the  story  of  the  Healer  of  Men.  To 

7 


8 


' The  Healing  of  the  Nations 


the  heathen  abroad,  as  well  as  to  the  godless  at  home,  the 
most  convincing  proof  of  the  love  of  God  is  that  it  begets 
love  to  man. 

Definition  By  a Medical  Missionary  we  mean  one  who 
takes  the  fruits  of  the  Christian  Era  as  ex- 
emplified in  modern  Medicine  and  thus  seeks  to  plant  the 
roots  of  Christianity  in  nations  and  among  peoples  who 
are  ignorant  of  its  doctrines.  The  Medical  Mission  is,  as 
Dr.  Willard  Parker  used  to  say,  Clinical  Christianity. 
The  late  professor  of  medicine  in  Oxford  University  said 
recently  in  speaking  on  Medical  Missions,  “ that  any  re- 
ligion to  be  true  must  be  such  as  would  appeal  to  all  men 
of  every  race,  and  in  any  period  of  its  evolution,”  and  that 
the  religion  of  Jesus  exemplified  in  the  work  of  the  Medi- 
cal Missionary  did  this  pre-eminently. 

Purpose  The  PurPose  °f  Medical  Missions  is  not  simply 
philanthropic,  though  it  finds  its  glory  in  self-sac- 
rificing philanthropy.  It  is  not  merely  an  enterprise  to  se- 
cure the  inestimable  benefits  of  Western  Medicine  and 
Surgery  for  those  in  these  terribly  needy  lands.  Its  pur- 
pose is  not  educative  alone,  though  its  educational  influ- 
ences are  far-reaching ; nor  is  it  to  provide  a temporal  ben- 
efit as  a bribe  for  spiritual  blessing. 

The  purpose  of  Medical  Missions  is  to  win  men  to 
Jesus  Christ  by  the  use  of  methods  precisely  comparable 
to  those  used  by  Christ  when  on  earth,  as  the  Great  Suc- 
corer  of  Bodies,  as  well  as  Divine  Saviour  of  Souls. 

It  is  passing  strange  that  attention  should 
Necessity  »or  need  to  be  drawn  to  the  sweet  influences  of 
Consideration.  this  love-work.  It  would  have  seemed  so 
natural  a deduction  from  the  religion  of 
which  love  is  the  essence,  even  if  we  had  not  the  records 
of  Christ’s  example. 

“As  every  lovely  hue  is  light, 

So  every  grace  is  love,” 

and  this  sphere  of  service  is  surely  one  in  which  real  abid- 
ing love  to  fellow-men  can  be  more  impressively  shown 
than  in  almost  any  other. 

Yet  to-day  its  privilege  and  duty  is  by  no  means  un- 
questioned. The  very  fact  that  North  America  and  Brit- 


Argument  for  Medical  Missions 


9 


ain  have  two  hundred  and  thirty  times  as  many  physicians 
as  there  are  Medical  Missionaries  among  the  whole  of 
heathendom,  is  ample  proof  that  the  Church  has  not  yet 
begun  to  realize  the  claims  of  those  other  lands  for  loving 
medical  attention.  The  united  population  of  these  two 
countries  is  but  one-ninth  of  the  heathen  world.  Can  it 
be  that  such  a population  requires  156,000  physicians  and 
can  spare  less  than  700  for  the  neglected  one  thousand 
millions  in  mission  lands  ? 

Love  is  the  distinguishing  characteristic  of  the  Chris- 
tian religion.  Other  teachers  had  set  high  standards  of 
faith,  others  had  preached  the  sternest  self-sacrifice ; some 
had  even  attempted  to  shadow  forth  a high  hope  in  the 
future;  but  Christ  alone  among  the  great  masters  has 
placed  this  quality  as  the  test  of  discipleship,  and  as  the 
manifestation  of  the  Godhead.  “ By  this,”  we  hear  Him 
say,  “ By  this  shall  all  men  know  that  ye  are  MY  disciples, 
if  ye  have  love  one  to  another.”  Not  only  has  this  been 
recognized  by  students  of  comparative  religions;  it  is 
recognized  by  the  world.  The  world  cares  little  about  the 
exercise  of  faith  by  professing  Christians.  It  frankly 
confesses  its  inability  to  comprehend  faith.  As  to  hope, 
it  allows  the  Church  to  please  itself  about  its  glorious 
hope  of  a hereafter,  but  when  it  comes  to  love,  it  is 
keen  to  observe  and  mark  every  breach. 

If  we  are  to  follow  in  the  steps  of  Jesus,  it  is  not  op- 
tional, but  essential,  that  we  walk  even  as  He  walked,  in 
the  path  of  love.  As  the  justification  for  Medical  Mis- 
sions is  the  career  of  Christ,  so  the  prime  motive  for  their 
prosecution  is  love  toward  Christ  and  through  Him 
toward  men. 

The  argument  for  Medical  Missions  is 
The  Argument  for  manifold.  Ne  see  it  expressed  by  the 
Medical  Missions,  appalling  need  for  such  work  in  the  lands 

under  consideration.  This  need  is  seen 
in  the  ignorance  displayed  by  those  professing  to  be  the 
physicians  of  these  people. 

The  native  doctors  are  absolutely  ignorant  of 
ignorance,  the  rudiments  of  scientific  medicine.  The  first 
thing  an  embryonic  medical  student  in  China 
does  is  to  commit  to  memory  the  three  hundred  places  in 


io  The  Healing  of  the  Nations 

I 

the  body  through  which  skewers  may  be  driven  with 
safety.  Some  of  these  so-called  “ safe  ” places  are  ac- 
tually through  the  abdomen  and  lungs ! 

It  is  strange  in  a country  like  China,  for  instance, 
where  critical  examinations  attend  each  step  of  a literary 
degree,  that  no  test  of  any  sort  is  demanded  from  those 
who  practice  medicine.  There  are  no  doctors  in  our 
sense  of  the  word — men  who  have  studied  the  science  and 
received  the  imprimatur  of  some  examining  body.  Many 
of  the  native  doctors  are  those  who  have  failed  in  the  lit- 
erary examinations,  or  who  have  been  unfortunate  in 
business. 

They  divide  diseases  into  “ outside,”  or  surgical,  and 
“ inside,”  or  medical  cases.  A doctor’s  sign  often  bears 
the  legend,  “ Outside  and  inside  diseases  cured.”  Their 
knowledge  of  anatomy  is  still  practically  nil.  No  dissec- 
tions are  permitted  in  the  Empire.  A copper  model  with 
imaginary  organs  in  imaginary  places  is  sometimes  used 
for  instruction.  They  are  wholly  innocent  of  any  such 
fine  distinctions  as  the  differences  between  veins,  arteries, 
nerves  and  tendons.  The  trachea  is  two  inches  wide  and 
one  foot  long.  The  liver  has  seven  lobes  and  is  the  motor 
centre  for  the  eyes  and  also  contains  the  soul.  The  larynx 
goes  through  the  lungs  directly  to  the  heart.  The  centre 
of  the  thorax  is  the  seat  from  which  joy  and  delight  ema- 
nate. No  Harvey  has  yet  arisen  to  teach  the  Chinese  the 
laws  of  the  circulation  of  the  blood.  Authors  vary  a 
good  deal  in  their  views.  Some  “ represent  tubes  issuing 
from  the  fingers  and  toes  and  running  up  the  limbs  into 
the  trunk,  where  they  are  lost  or  reach  the  heart,  lungs,  or 
some  other  organ  as  well  as  they  can,  wandering  over  most 
parts  of  the  body  in  their  course.”  The  Chinese  know  noth- 
ing of  the  nervous  system,  its  functions  or  its  diseases.  The 
position  of  the  heart  is  stated  to  be  midway  between  the 
crown  of  the  head  and  the  sole  of  the  foot — “ it  must  be 
there,”  is  the  logical  explanation,  “ for  it’s  the  centre  of 
the  being.” 

The  pharmacopoeia  of  these  lands  is  remarkable.  Both 
in  Persia  and  China  remedies  are  divided  into  hot  and 
cold.  When  refrigerants  have  failed  for  a long  time  they 
will  say ; “ Perhaps  the  patient  has  had  too  much  of  it ; 


Argument  for  Medical  Missions  li 

we  will  change  the  treatment  and  try  something  hot.” 
“ One  last  resource  remains  to  the  Persian  physician  to 
save  his  own  reputation — to  recommend  the  patient  to  try 
a forty  days’  course  of  a decoction  made  from  a certain 
root.  The  victim  must  take  it  forty  days  consecutively, 
three  times  a day,  about  half  a pint  at  a time,  after  food, 
and  never  once  lose  his  or  her  temper,  or  it  will  be  of  no 
avail.  The  fortieth  day  the  patient  returns  probably 
worse  than  before,  or  complains  of  feeling  certainly  none 
the  better,  and  at  once  the  physician  says,  ‘ But  have  you 
lost  your  temper  ? ’ Of  course,  he  or  she  has,  and  then  it 
is  not  the  physician’s  fault  but  the  patient’s.” 

A favorite  remedy  in  Korea  for  anaemia  is  a jelly  made 
from  the  bones  of  a man  recently  killed.  A criminal  exe- 
cution is  largely  attended  by  native  practitioners  to  ob- 
tain this  valuable  ingredient.  (The  author  has  some- 
times wondered  if  this  betokened  a sort  of  lucky  foresight 
into  our  modern  treatment  of  some  anaemias  by  adminis- 
tration of  bone-marrow!) 

For  catarrhs  chips  from  coffins  which  have  been  let 
down  into  the  grave  are  boiled  and  said  to  possess  great 
virtue. 

A medical  missionary  recently  told  a story  of  a man 
who  had  come  to  him  with  dyspepsia.  He  had  been  or- 
dered to  take  stone  ground  up  in  a paste  with  water. 
During  two  years  he  had  taken  each  day  a cupful  and 
had  consumed  half  a millstone,  about  sixty  pounds  in 
weight.  Finding  himself  no  better,  he  was  ordered  cin- 
namon bark  and  had  ingested  forty  pounds  of  it.  It 
seems  to  us  a great  tribute  to  the  man’s  constitution  to 
be  able  to  record  that  ten  days  of  more  appropriate  treat- 
ment resulted  in  his  complete  recovery  in  spite  of  the  he- 
roic measures  previously  employed ! 

According  to  Dr.  Wells  Williams  some  of  the  agents 
administered  are  at  once  archaic  and  archeological.  They 
include  snake  skins,  fossil  bones,  rhinoceros  or  hart’s 
horn  shavings,  silk  worm  and  human  secretions,  asbestos, 
moths  and  oyster  shells.  But  this  list  is  nothing  to  one 
that  was  recorded  in  a recent  Chinese  medical  missionary 
journal : “ Flies  are  of  great  use  to  man,  for  their  heads 
when  pounded  and  used  as  a pomade  form  an  infallible 


12  The  Healing  of  the  Nations 

hair  restorer  for  the  head,  beard  and  eyebrows.  . . . 

Bats  are  harmless  animals  and  of  great  value  in  medicine. 
Their  flesh,  applied  as  a poultice,  is  a sovereign  cure  for 
the  stings  of  scorpions;  roasted  and  eaten,  they  dry  up 
the  excess  of  saliva  in  infants.  . . . There  is  nothing 
better  for  that  dangerous  disease,  lethargy,  than  to  put 
fleas  into  the  patient’s  ears.”  Speaking  of  bedbugs,  “certain 
devout  and  religious  people  have  been  known  to  put  those 
animals  in  their  beds,  that  they  might  be  more  wakeful 
to  contemplate  divine  things.  . . . One  purpose  of 
their  creation  was,  doubtless,  to  keep  us  from  pride,  . . . 
but  the  main  object  of  the  creation  of  bugs  was  the  bene- 
fit of  the  sick.  They  are  of  remarkable  efficacy  in  the 
hysteria  of  females,  if  one  puts  them  in  the  patient’s  nose. 
. . . Seven  bugs  taken  in  barley  water  are  of  great 

value  in  quartan  ague  and  for  the  bites  of  scorpions.” 
The  writer  who  quotes  the  above  adds,  “ Heaven  has  cer- 
tainly been  bountiful  to  China  and  well  stocked  Nature’s 
Dispensary.” 

In  Korea  the  bones  of  a tiger  are  considered  a specific 
for  cowardice.  A strong  tiger-bone  soup  will  make  a 
hero  of  the  most  arrant  coward.  They  argue  thus : “ The 
tiger  is  very  strong ; his  bones  are  the  strongest  part  of 
him,  therefore  a soup  of  the  bones  must  be  wonderfully 
strengthening.”  For  those  who  cannot  afford  such  an 
expensive  luxury,  they  may  yet  obtain  some  of  the 
strength  and  courage  of  that  ferocious  beast  by  swallow- 
ing a decoction  of  his  mustache  hairs,  which  are  retailed 
at  the  ridiculously  low  figure  of  one  hundred  cash — i.e.,  3 
to  6 cents — per  hair ! 

Ophthalmia  and  other  eye  diseases  are  extremely  com- 
mon in  almost  all  these  lands.  The  author  during  a trip 
to  Palestine  once  noticed  no  fewer  than  ten  different  dis- 
eases of  the  eye  in  the  course  of  a half  hour’s  stroll 
through  the  bazars  of  Jerusalem.  Thousands  become 
sightless  every  year  through  the  lack  of  the  simplest  lo- 
tions and  ointments.  In  China  there  are  estimated  to  be 
no  fewer  than  500,000  blind,  and  in  India  the  number  is 
stated  to  be  458,000.  Ophthalmia  is  still  treated  in  many 
places  by  a lotion  of  boiled  monkey’s  feet,  pork  and  alco- 
hol, and  notwithstanding  such  original  treatment  no  cures 


Argument  for  Medical  Missions  13 

are  reported.  A missionary  in  India  describes  the  case 
of  a child  who  was  brought  to  her  for  eye  treatment : 
“ The  poor  mother  said,  ‘ I have  been  so  careful ; I have 
put  the  country  medicine  in  each  day.’  We  asked  what 
it  was,  and  this  was  the  answer : ‘A  donkey’s  tooth  ground 
up  with  charcoal,  and  the  powder  put  into  the  child’s  eyes.’ 
And  for  two  whole  months  the  mother  had  patiently  ap- 
plied this.” 

Their  knowledge  of  pathology  is  such  that  resinous 
plasters  or  dabs  of  tar  are  put  on  whenever  pus  appears. 
If  the  suppuration  burrows  its  way  through,  more  plas- 
ter is  applied.  The  ruling  principle  is  to  keep  it  in. 

Some  of  these  practices  would  be  merely  ludicrous  if 
itwerenot  for  theterrible  suffering  entailed  by  such  absurd 
treatment.  A physician  of  the  Celestial  Empire  does  not 
hesitate  to  thrust  a long,  uncleanly  needle  into  a patient’s 
stomach  or  liver  who  comes  to  him  suffering  with  dyspep- 
sia. Add  to  this  the  custom  of  blistering  the  wounds 
thus  caused,  and  the  extreme  danger  of  the  procedure  will 
be  realized. 

Of  course  there  must  be  here  and  there  exceptions, 
where  the  treatment  prescribed  is  at  least  harmless  and 
occasionally  beneficial.  There  is,  however,  no  scientific 
study  of  the  subject,  and  there  are  none  of  the  instru- 
ments of  precision  for  diagnosis  which  to-day  are  the 
property  of  the  whole  profession  in  our  more  favored 
countries.  The  stethoscope,  clinical  thermometer,  micro- 
scope and  staining  agents  are  of  course  quite  unknown. 

Mrs.  Isabella  Bird-Bishop,  the  celebrated 
Superstition.  Asiatic  traveler,  says  that  back  of  almost 
all  Asiatic  religions  is  the  belief  in  demons. 
Demonism  underlies  the  Indian  religions ; it  is  para- 
mount in  Afghanistan  and  in  much  of  Arabia,  and  is  the 
bedrock  on  which  the  Taoism  of  China  is  built.  If  this 
be  true  of  Asia,  it  is  no  less  true  of  large  parts  of  Africa. 
The  demons  need  to  be  exorcised  in  cases  of  sickness. 
The  first  question  is  not,  as  with  us,  what  is  the  cause  of 
this  sickness,  but  rather,  who  is  the  cause.  In  Africa,  the 
medicine  man  is  called  in  to  know  who  has  bewitched 
the  sick  one.  He  has  a string  of  shells,  and  by  throwing 
these  in  the  air  and  watching  how  they  fall  he  pretends 


14 


The  Healing  of  the  Nations 


to  know  the  exact  man,  or  his  spirit  should  he  be  dead. 
It  is  vain  for  the  selected  one  to  protest  his  innocence. 
“ If  a man  has  an  apoplectic  stroke,  this  is  not  due  to  the 
rupture  of  a blood  vessel  in  his  brain  or  to  any  other  of  the 
natural  causes  of  this  condition,  but  some  enemy  has  cast 
a spell  over  him  or  perhaps  his  father’s  ghost  is  angry 
with  him.” 

It  is  the  natural  result  of  such  belief  in  witch- 
craft that  charms  and  spells  should  play  an  important  part 
in  the  treatment  of  disease.  Clairvoyance,  miraculous  in- 
terpositions and  supernatural  appearances  are  common- 
places in  the  systems  of  belief  in  many  parts  of  the 
heathen  world,  and  are  constantly  resorted  to  in  times  of 
sickness.  Fortune  tellers  and  astrologers  are  protected 
by  law  in  China.  In  the  recent  Chinese  war  some  inter- 
esting examples  occurred  of  the  superstitious  darkness 
which  still  hangs  as  a pall  upon  even  the  comparatively  in- 
telligent. A general  whose  arm  was  shattered  by  a ball, 
thinking  the  daily  dressing  in  Western  style  was  too  slow 
a method,  called  in  a fortune  teller.  Prayers  were  writ- 
ten in  the  picturesque  Chinese  characters  upon  red  paper. 
This  was  burnt  and  the  ashes  administered  as  medicine. 
During  four  days  the  wound  was  left  unattended  and  the 
general  died  from  blood  poisoning. 

In  Persia  during  an  epidemic  of  cholera,  thousands  of 
prayers  were  printed  and  posted  above  the  doors  of  the 
houses.  They  were  of  various  kinds ; some  in  Arabic 
gave  detailed  directions  from  the  Angel  Gabriel  that  who- 
soever should  write  out  this  prayer  and  “ keep  it  about  his 
person  shall  be  safe,  and  whoever  reads  it  once  a day  for 
seven  days,  shall  be  exempt.  And  whoever  shall  write 
it  and  put  it  in  a cup  of  water,  and  shall  drink  of  that 
water,  the  disease  of  cholera  shall  not  reach  him.”  A 
traveler  in  India  passing  through  a village  noticed  that 
decapitated  dogs  had  been  put  up  in  trees  at  the  various 
entrances  to  the  village.  Those  horrible  sights  were  so 
placed  that  from  whichever  side  the  Cholera  Goddess 
might  approach,  she  might  be  turned  back  in  disgust. 

In  China  and  India  gongs  are  beaten  and  firecrackers 
ignited  to  frighten  away  the  evil  spirits  which  are  sup- 
posed to  be  the  cause  of  the  sickness.  Such  a scene  is 


Argument  for  Medical  Missions  15 

vividly  pictured  by  a missionary  who  witnessed  the  sight : 
“ Hearing  the  noise  of  a drum,  I asked  what  it  was,  and 
the  woman  told  me  it  was  a ‘ girl  playing.’  It  seems  she 
had  been  very  ill  for  two  months,  and  as  all  remedies  had 
failed,  the  hakim  (doctor)  said  she  must  be  under  the 
power  of  an  evil  spirit.  The  ‘ magicians  ’ were  sent  for 
to  exorcise  the  demon.  In  a small,  hot  room  was  a crowd 
of  men,  women  and  children  ; in  the  middle,  the  two  ‘ wiz- 
ards ’ — leering  men,  with  faces  sodden  with  good  living 
and  evil  doing.  One  beat  a drum,  the  other  thumped 
with  brass  pokers  on  a metal  instrument.  At  intervals 
they  recited  incantations.  The  patient  was  lying  on  the 
ground  before  them,  while  a woman  ironed  her  with  a hot 
brick.  ‘ Lift  her  up,’  said  one  of  the  ‘ wizards.’  This 
was  done  and  then  began  a most  sickening  sight.  She 
writhed  backward  and  forward  like  a snake  being 
charmed,  the  movements  getting  quicker  and  quicker  as 
the  drums  beat  louder ; then  she  knocked  her  head  and  long 
black  hair  upon  the  ground.  I spoke  to  the  mother,  but 
it  was  of  no  use,  and  the  evil  looking  men  beat  the  drum 
more  furiously  than  ever.  In  such  places  Satan’s  seat  is 
firm.”  Of  course,  such  superstition  is  the  avenue  for 
fraud  and  blackmail  of  a most  exacting  kind. 

Fracture  cases  which  have  been  treated  with  splints 
in  mission  hospitals  are  often  carried  away  by  their 
friends  to  have  the  splints  removed  and  the  fracture 
smeared  over  with  mud  from  some  shrine,  in  the  belief  that 
it  will  unite  better. 

In  Palestine  a missionary  physician  was  called  in  to 
see  the  son  of  a local  governor.  He  found  the  native 
“ hakim  ” had  written  the  word  “Allah,”  the  Arabic  name 
for  God,  round  a plate  and  then  washed  it  off,  giving  the 
boy  the  inky  draught.  He  was  sure  that  he  must  recover 
now  that  he  had  drunk  the  name  of  God  so  many  times. 

Bites  by  dogs  are  said  to  be  best  treated  by  drawing  a 
circle  round  the  wound  and  writing  the  word  “ tiger  ” in 
it,  because  the  tiger  is  more  than  a match  for  the  dog. 

“ The  disease  demons  may  afflict  the  patient  in  various 
ways.  They  come  behind  him,  and  hitting  him  with  a 
club,  enter  the  back  of  his  neck,  or  creep  into  his 
body  and  consume  his  liver.  A spirit  may  get 


1 6 The  Healing  of  the  Nations 

into  the  body  and  ‘ gnaw  and  feed  ’ inside ; invisible 
spirits  may  inflict  invisible  wounds  with  invisible  spears, 
or,  lodging  in  the  heart,  may  make  men  mad.  Sometimes 
it  is  the  spirit  of  a bear,  deer,  turtle,  fish,  tree,  stone  or 
worm  sent  into  the  spirit  of  the  sick  man,  or,  as  we  have 
often  heard  them  say,  ‘ a ghost  sitting  on  the  chest  of  a 
patient.’  . . . 

“ Thorns  and  bushes  are  put  in  the  pathway  of  the  small- 
pox spirit,  or  thorns,  ditches  and  stinking  oils  may  bar- 
ricade the  way  of  his  approach.  In  New  Zealand  the 
disease  demon  is  to  be  charmed  on  a flag-staff ; in  Mala- 
gasy the  patient’s  ailments  are  to  be  recounted  to  some 
grass,  ashes,  a sheep  or  a pumpkin,  and  the  disease  spirit 
prayed  to  for  their  removal.  The  Patagonian  was  wont 
to  beat  a drum  and  the  Dacota  to  shake  his  gourd  and 
bead  rattle  to  scare  away  the  disease.  The  most  wide- 
spread formula,  however,  is  that  of  sucking  or  blowing  on 
the  diseased  organs,  accompanied  with  incantations,  and 
the  extraction  of  stones,  splinters  and  bits  of  rags,  amidst 
drumming,  dancing  and  drinking.  Not  infrequently 
the  disease  is  transferred  by  various  means.  The  sick 
man’s  blood  may  be  run  into  an  ant-hill  or  dropped  in  the 
mouth  of  a frog  or  a live  fowl,  or  sent  into  a leopard’s 
claw,  a nail,  a rag,  a puppy  or  a duck.  Such  being  the 
world’s  theories  of  disease  and  its  treatment,  it  is  plain 
that  medicine  and  theology  go  together  in  the  thought  and 
life  of  the  non-Christian  man.  He  is  quite  prepared  to 
receive  them  together  from  the  Christian  missionary. 
‘ In  nothing  has  the  savage  (and  it  is  true  of  many  more 
than  the  savage)  been  more  religious  than  in  his  medicine, 
if  it  may  be  so  called,’  says  one  of  the  ablest  ethnogra- 
phers of  our  day.  His  medicine-man  is  always  his  priest, 
whether  we  call  him  shaman,  conjurer,  sorcerer  or  wiz- 
ard. Sickness  being  the  effect  of  the  anger  of  a god,  or 
the  malicious  influence  of  a sorcerer,  he  naturally  seeks 
relief  from  his  deity.  ‘ The  recovery  from  disease  is  the 
kindliest  exhibition  of  Divine  power,  and  the  Christian 
Medical  Missionary  occupies  a lofty  vantage  ground  in 
his  work.’  ”* 

Superstition  is  the  subtlest  and  most  tenacious  enemy 

*“  Women’s  Medical  Work  in  Foreign  Lands,”  by  Mrs.  J.  T,  Gracey,  pp.  io-ia. 


Argument  for  Medical  Missions 


17 


of  Christianity.  In  no  way  can  the  belief  in  demons  be 
more  effectually  shattered  than  by  the  work  of  the  Med- 
ical Missionary.  A minor  operation,  or  a few  doses  of 
medicine,  may  cure  a condition  which  has  been  affirmed  to 
be  consequent  on  some  bewitching  agency  and  which  can- 
not be  cured  except  by  incantations,  mantrams,  or  gaudy 
idolatrous  processions  to  appease  the  wrath  of  some 
plague  god,  or  disease  demon. 

It  is  difficult  for  those  in  Christian  countries  to  realize 
the  vast  amount  of  suffering — mental  and  physical — 
which  might  be  prevented  and  of  sorrow  which  might  be 
comforted,  if  only  the  voice  of  the  Husbandman  was 
heard  as  He  calls  for  laborers  to  dress  the  vines  and  gather 
the  grapes,  which  now  are  being  so  bruised  and  down- 
trodden in  His  far-away  vineyards. 

We  would  conclude  this  chapter  by  telling  a story 
which  is  being  enacted  to-day  in  countless  homes  of  India 
— a strange,  weird  mingling  of  ignorance,  superstition, 
cruelty  and  neglect,  which  will  surely  appeal  to  the  ten- 
derness of  every  woman  reader. 

It  is  the  home  of  a high-caste  Hindu.  A mother  and 
a little  child  less  than  a week  old  are  lying  unconscious. 
The  mother  has  survived  the  unspeakable  barbarities  of 
the  native  midwife,  and  now  she  and  her  child  are  perish- 
ing for  want  of  food  and  from  neglect. 

“ Every  step  of  her  treatment  had  been  laid  down  in 
their  sacred  book.  . . . For  the  first  three  days  she 

has  been  deprived  of  food  and  drink,  and  on  the  third  al- 
lowed one  grain  of  rice.  Her  room  has  been  prepared  by 
placing  her  in  the  darkest  and  dirtiest  of  the  house,  with 
the  most  filthy  of  rags,  on  a mud  floor  for  her  bed.  A 
cow’s  skull  painted  red,  an  image  of  Sasthi,  the  goddess 
who  presides  over  the  destiny  of  women  and  children, 
. . . is  placed  in  a conspicuous  position.  This  and  the 

pot  of  smoldering  charcoal,  the  only  furniture,  are 
placed  there  to  expel  the  evil  spirits  hovering  round.  Dur- 
ing her  three  weeks  of  uncleanness  neither  father,  mother, 
husband  nor  sister  can  come  nigh  her,  leaving  her  to  the 
care  of  the  barber’s  wife.  On  the  fifth  day  the  filthy 
clothing  is  removed  and  the  room  cleaned,  as  on  the  next 
is  to  be  the  worship  of  Sasthi,  and  that  night  Vidhata 


The  Healing  of  the  Nations 


will  write  on  the  child’s  forehead  the  main  events  of  his 
life.  The  day  has  arrived,  Sasthi  has  been  worshiped. 
The  woman  has  been  given  a cold  bath,  all  necessary  ar- 
rangements for  Vidhata’s  visit  have  been  made,  food  con- 
sisting of  a coarse  graham  flour  and  coarser  brown  sugar, 
equal  parts,  wet  and  kneaded  together,  to  be  eaten  raw, 
has  been  prepared  for  the  famished  mother,  but  both 
mother  and  child  are  unconscious,  and  the  foreign  doctor 
is  called  to  bring  them  back  to  life.”*  These  are  thy 
Gods,  O India ; these  are  Thy  rivals,  O Jehovah ! 

When  shall  a prophet  of  God  be  able  to  look  toward 
these  dark  places  and  chant  the  anthem,  “Arise,  shine,  for 
thy  light  is  come,  and  the  glory  of  the  Lord  is  risen  upon 
.thee  ” ? 


T Missionary  Rtview  of  she  World,  September  1*95,  p.  488. 


MALPRACTICE  IN  HEATHEN  LANDS 


“ In  the  name  of  God,  Who  hss  made  us  of  one  blood  and  in  W’hose 
image  we  are  created  ; in  the  name  of  the  Messiah  Who  came  to  bind  up 
the  broken  hearted,  to  proclaim  liberty  to  the  captives  and  the  opening  of 
the  prison  to  them  that  are  bound,  I demand  the  immediate  emancipation 
of  those  who  are  pining.  ’ ’ 

— William  Lloyd  Garrison. 

“ Ask  God  to  give  thee  skill 
In  comfort’s  art, 

That  thou  may’ st  consecrated  be 
And  set  apart 
Unto  a life  of  sympathy, 
tor  heavy  is  the  weight  of  ill 
In  every  heart, 

And  comforters  are  needed  much 
Of  Christ-like  touch.” 

~—A.  E.  Hamilton. 

“ For  the  heart  grows  rich  in  giving  : all  its  wealth  is  living  grain. 

Seeds  which  mildew  in  the  garner,  scattered,  fill  with  gold  the  plain. 

Is  thy  burden  hard  and  heavy  ? Do  thy  steps  drag  wearily  ? 

Help  to  bear  thy  brother’s  burden  : God  will  bear  both  it  and  thee.” 

— Mrs.  Charles. 

“ The  possession  of  a great  ideal  does  not  mean,  as  so  many  fondly 
imagine,  work  accomplished  : it  means  work  revealed — work  revealed  so 
vast,  often  so  impossible,  that  faith  and  hope  die  down,  and  the  enthusiast 
of  yesterday  becomes  the  cynic  of  to-morrow.’  ’ 

— George  Adam  Smith. 


20 


11 


MALPRACTICE  IN  HEATHEN  LANDS 

It  is  stated  that  whenever  Captain  Cook  touched  new 
soil  in  his  travels  he  sowed  seeds  of  British  plants.  Later 
colonists  found  to  their  surprise  plants  of  their  home  land 
growing  in  their  newly  adopted  countries.  As  we  voy- 
age in  thought  along  the  shores  of  history  we  see  that 
wherever  Christianity  has  gone  there  grows  more  or  less 
luxuriantly  the  flower  of  brotherly  love — a veritable  sen- 
sitive plant  to  rough  and  careless  handling.  It  is  a great 
thing  for  our  lands  to-day  that  the  body  politic  is  so  ex- 
quisitely alive  toward  customs  which  involve  pain  or 
cruelty  to  either  the  lower  animals  or  to  fellow  men. 
Sometimes  this  public  conscience  may  seem  to  be  callous 
for  a while ; sometimes  it  becomes  morbid  or  hysterical ; 
yet,  as  a whole,  in  every  Christian  nation,  it  is  to  be  pro- 
foundly trusted  to  eventually  deliver  a right  judgment. 
Cock-fighting,  bull-baiting,  pugilism,  cruelty  to  helpless 
children,  or  to  the  blind  or  insane,  are  all  doomed  in  ever)- 
nation  which  seeks  to  follow  even  afar  off  in  the  steps  of 
the  Great  Altruist. 

The  Christian  world  is  a great  nervous  system  which 
feels  the  shock  and  thrill  of  pain  from  its  most  distal  ex- 
tremities. Atrocities  in  Armenia,  famines  in  India, 
floods  in  China,  persecutions  in  Russia  and  misgovern- 
ment  of  degraded  or  oppressed  peoples,  all  bring  their 
message  and  make  impact  upon  thought,  memory,  prayer — 
and  at  last,  though,  alas,  slowly,  stir  the  heart  to  help,  res- 
cue and  redeem. 

“ He's  true  to  God  who’s  true  to  man  wherever  wrong  is  done 
To  the  humblest  and  the  weakest  'neath  the  all-beholding  sun. 
That  wrong  is  also  done  to  us,  and  they  are  slaves  most  base 
Whose  love  of  right  is  for  themselves,  and  not  for  all  their  race.  ’ ' 

Yet  there  seems  to  be  a strange  anaesthesia  which  has 
21 


22  The  Healing  of  the  Nations 

settled  upon  the  Church  of  Christ  in  reference  to  the  bodily 
pangs  and  pains  which  are  being  so  agonizingly  felt  by 
thousands  for  whom  the  temporal  as  well  as  spiritual  bless- 
ings of  Christianity  were  intended.  Is  it  that  she  has  re- 
ceived these  messages  of  pain  so  infrequently  that  a path 
has  hardly  been  established  toward  her  perception  centres, 
or  has  she  merely  been  slow  to  discern  from  whence  they 
came  and  to  what  duty  they  called  her  ? 

Whatever  be  the  true  reason,  the  fact  is  patent  that  the 
followers  of  Christ  have  allowed  this  suffering  to  continue 
unmitigated  by  loving  help,  and  are  only  now  beginning 
to  realize  and  rescue. 

“ The  tender  mercies  of  the  wicked  are  cruel.” 
Cruelty.  ignorance  }n  the  treatment  of  the  sick  were  bad 
enough ; superstition  is  degrading  and  paralyzing  in  its 
effects ; but  cruelty  blasts  the  dim  light  of  conscience  which 
is  in  every  man’s  secret  heart  and  hardens  the  unhappy 
victim  into  desperation  and  despair. 

“ In  Arabia,  an  ingenious  expedient  for  relieving  a pa- 
tient is  burning  holes  in  the  body  to  let  the  disease  out, 
branding  sick  children  with  red  hot  bars,  chopping  off 
wounded  limbs  and  sealing  them  with  boiling  tar.”  Cut- 
ting with  knives  and  scarification  are  frequently  resorted 
to.  Sometimes,  of  course,  this  violent  counter-irritation 
is  of  some  benefit,  at  least  temporarily,  though  the  result- 
ant wounds  often  suppurate  for  years  after  the  operation. 
A Chinese  doctor  has  great  faith  in  moxa,  which  is  a pow- 
der made  of  various  medicaments  including  saltpetre,  and 
which  is  ignited  on  the  skin  of  the  patient. 

Dr.  Rosetta  S.  Hall  gives  an  account  of  the  visit  of  a 
Korean  doctor  to  a sick  child  : “ The  first  thing  he  did  was 
to  make  a little  pyramid  of  brownish  looking  powder 
upon  each  breast  of  the  child,  and  then  to  set  it  on  fire  un- 
til it  burned  the  tender  skin.  This  was  followed  by  the 
use  of  a large  darning  needle,  which  was  first  thrust 
through  each  little  foot,  then  the  palms  of  the  hands,  the 
thumb  joints,  and  through  the  lips  into  the  jaw,  just  be- 
neath the  nose.”  Imagine,  if  you  can,  the  agonizing 
screams  of  the  child  while  this  barbarous  and  useless 
cruelty  was  being  practiced ! 

Think  of  the  treatment  in  this  land  of  mothers  in  the 


Malpractice  in  Heathen  Lands 


23 


throes  of  childbirth  and  compare  it  with  the  customs  in 
heathen  lands.  Here,  all  is  made  subservient  to  the  moth- 
er's comfort.  If  she  is  poor,  our  splendid  maternity  hos- 
pitals are  open  for  her  reception.  The  room  is  prepared, 
the  footfall  becomes  more  quiet  as  it  approaches  her  door, 
the  merry  shouting  of  the  children  is  hushed,  friends  are 
near,  and  the  trained  skill  of  nurse  and  physician  are  at 
her  command.  “All  Hindu  women,’’  wrote  the  veteran  mis- 
sionary, Mrs.  Weitbrecht,  some  few  years  since,  “ whether 
rich  or  poor,  are  utterly  neglected  in  time  of  sickness.”  The 
native  nurses  are  all  the  majority  of  sick  women  in  India 
have  for  doctors.  They  are  ignorant,  immoral  and  exces- 
sively meddlesome.  Countless  mothers  and  infants  fall  a 
prey  to  horrible  barbarities  inflicted  in  the  name  of  service, 
during  their  hour  of  peril.  In  India  a tardy  labor  is  assisted 
by  a bamboo  pole,  or  a plank  of  wood  laid  across  the 
woman’s  abdomen,  with  a heavy  assistant  seated  on  each 
end.  In  Siam  the  mother  is  made  to  expose  herself  for 
many  days  to  a fire  built  up  of  wood  about  eighteen  inches 
from  her  body,  with  the  result  that  serious  burns  occur, 
causing  weeks  or  months  of  suffering,  and  at  length  heal- 
ing with  extensive  cicatrices  and  the  usual  diseases  conse- 
quent upon  prolonged  suppuration.  Supposed  to  be  pos- 
sessed by  some  evil  spirit,  they  are  objects  to  be  shunned, 
and  every  possible  cruelty  may  be  resorted  to  that  the  de- 
mon may  be  expelled.  In  some  places  the  mother  is  ban- 
ished in  a winter  cold,  many  degrees  below  zero,  to  a hut 
of  bark  for  ten  days,  and  is  frequently  quite  alone  and 
often  half  starved. 

A lady  missionary  relates  a visit  she  paid  to  the  home 
of  a Muhammedan  teacher,  where  both  wife  and  children 
are  loved  by  husband  and  father.  On  the  bed  is  a lit- 
tle child  of  three  years  in  convulsions.  “As  wre  enter,  a 
barber  has  just  finished  shaving  the  hair  from  the  head 
just  over  ....  the  place  where  the  brain  can  be  seen 
to  pulsate  in  an  infant’s  head  and  is  called  by  the 
natives  of  India  ‘ the  door  to  the  brain.’  A Muhamme- 
dan doctor  lifts  a red  hot  piece  of  iron  from  the  fire  and 
presses  it  to  the  exposed  part,  destroying  the  tissues  to 
the  skull,  and  to  my  cry  of  horror  and  dismay  the  father, 
in  an  agony  of  sorrow,  answers,  ‘ Oh,  Miss  Sahib,  for 


24 


The  Healing  of  the  Nations 


many  days  that  door  was  open  and  an  evil  spirit  entered 
there  and  must  be  destroyed,  or  our  child  will  die.  ’ ” 

A dislocated  ankle  is  reduced  by  strapping  two 
boards  to  the  sole  of  the  foot  and  driving  a stout  wedge 
between  them,  much  on  the  same  principle  as  the  infa- 
mous “ boot  ” used  during  the  Inquisition. 

Fractures  are  sometimes  placed  in  splints  of  rough  un- 
padded bark  and  are  tied  up  with  coarse  string  so  tightly 
that  severe  wounds  or  mortification  frequently  occurs. 

In  China,  it  is  customary  to  “ let  out  ” pain  in  the  head 
by  piercing  the  eyeball  or  drum  of  the  ear,  often  produc- 
ing thereby  blindness  and  deafness. 

Some  time  ago  a conversation  was  heard  between  some 
natives  of  one  of  these  lands  on  the  advantage  of  having 
doctors,  and  one  man  related  how  his  wife  had  been 
treated  for  a headache.  Several  old  women  took  her  in 
hand.  They  bound  a towel  about  her  forehead,  placed 
a brass  pot  on  her  head,  filled  the  pot  with  boiling  water, 
and  for  about  two  hours  kept  up  the  temperature  by  la- 
dling out  the  cooling  water  and  adding  boiling  water  in  its 
place.  At  the  end  of  the  two  hours  the  patient  had  lost 
her  pain.  She  was  dead.* 

Dr.  Mackenzie  wrote  from  Tientsin : “ I was  called  to 
attend  a woman  in  one  of  the  vamens,  who  was  suffering 
from  spasmodic  asthma,  and  found  a slave  girl  beating 
the  back  of  the  chest  with  a large  stick  like  a rolling-pin, 
with  the  idea  of  giving  relief.”  Necrosis  and  ulcer  from 
the  terrible  custom  of  foot-binding  in  China  is  very  com- 
mon. The  British  Medical  Journal  of  Jan.  28,  1899  (p. 
231 ),  says  : “ It  not  infrequently  happens  that  the  flesh  be- 
comes putrescent  during  the  process  of  binding  and  por- 
tions slough  off  from  the  sole.  Sometimes  a toe  drops 
off.  . . . Elegance  is  secured  at  the  cost  of  months  of 

suffering.”  The  hakims  of  some  nations  treat  rheuma- 
tism by  sticking  long  pins  into  the  patient  having  tow 
dipped  in  oil  around  the  heads  of  the  pins.  This  is 
lighted  and  into  the  wounds  thus  caused  are  inserted 
“ medical  nails,”  composed  of  corrosive  sublimate,  arsenic 
and  salt.  The  profuse  discharge  saps  the  strength  and 
sometimes  destroys  the  lives  of  the  patients.  Another 


" Mercy  and  Truth,  p.  75,  Vol.  I.,  1897. 


Malpractice  in  Heathen  Lands 


25 


plan  of  treatment  of  rheumatism  in  the  ankles  is  that  of 
cutting  open  the  back  of  the  heel,  scraping  away  the  mus- 
cular tissues  down  to  the  bone,  filling  the  cavity  with 
cayenne  pepper  and  then  stitching  up  the  skin.  Gangrene 
is  by  no  means  an  infrequent  sequel  to  such  procedure. 

It  is  stated  by  medical  missionaries  in  China  that  oc- 
casionally a native  physician  finding  himself  unable  to 
cope  with  a case  of  illness  of  a parent,  will  order  a soup 
made  from  the  flesh  cut  from  the  arm  of  a son  or  daugh- 
ter. It  is  hard  for  us  to  realize  what  must  be  the  pain  in- 
flicted by  such  an  operation,  conducted  without  an  anaes- 
thetic and  in  the  roughest  and  most  pitiless  manner. 

In  delirium  from  fever,  the  sufferer  in  Northern  India 
is  believed  to  be  possessed  by  a demon,  and  is  put  in  an 
outhouse  and  chained  hand  and  foot  to  a stone  block. 

In  Tibet  the  approach  of  a small-pox  epidemic  pro- 
duces a frenzied  fear  which  is  met  by  terribly  summary 
methods  of  extinction  by  burning  the  patients  alive, 
or  hurrying  them  over  the  edge  of  rapid  torrents,  or  by 
the  slower  and  more  painful  process  of  starvation  on  a 
mountain  top  to  which  they  have  been  carried.  “ It  is 
the  glorious  work  of  the  missionary  physician  to  over- 
throw these  barbarous  systems  of  medical  treatment  . . . 
and  to  substitute  for  them  the  scientific  methods,  the  skill 
and  the  suavities  of  . . . Western  Medicine. 

To  our  medical  sisters  is  the  special  honor  given  to  en- 
ter the  domestic  Bastilles  of  the  East  with  healing  and 
light,  and  to  make  an  end  by  their  skilled  and  beneficent 
methods  of  the  barbarous  practices  of  native  midwifery, 
and  of  the  many  remediable  sufferings  of  their  own  sex.” 
If  you  would  seek  to  measure  the  power  of  Christian- 
ty,  look  at  and  compare  the  treatment  of  the  sick  before 
Christ  came  and  where  to-day  He  is 
l Powerful  Apologetic  not  known,  with  that  of  countries 
of  Christianity.  where  His  influence  has  been  felt  for 
generations.  We  would  commend 
he  study  of  this  subject  to  any  who  wish  for  a new  line  of 
ipologetics  which  will  assuredly  strengthen  their  faith  in, 
md  magnify  the  office  of,  the  principles  brought  into  the 
vorld  through  the  love-manifestation  of  God  in  His 
jon,  Jesus. 


26 


The  Healing  of  the  Nations 


We  would  not  seem  to  claim  that  institutions  for  treat- 
ment of  the  sick  were  unknown  till  the  advent  of  Chris- 
tianity. Far  from  it.  Notably  in  India,  during  the 
Buddhist  ascendency,  about  300  B.  C.,  hospitals  were 
founded.  In  that  country,  as  well  as  in  Arabia,  Egypt, 
Greece  and  Rome,  there  was  constant  association  of  the 
healing  art  with  religious  functions.  But  with  a few 
notable  exceptions  their  methods  were  a strange  medley 
of  superstitions  and  incantations,  with  but  little  admix- 
ture of  rational  treatment.  And  in  the  best  examples  of 
history  we  see  but  a faint  foreshadowing  of  pure  altruism 
and  sacrifice  for  others,  which  finds  so  exalted  a place  in 
Christian  Medicine. 

“ Did  Athens  with  three-fourths,  and  Rome  with 
three-fifths,  of  her  population  in  slavery  build  hospitals 
for  the  sick,  the  lame,  the  blind,  the  insane,  the  leper? 
Did  these  humanitarian  feelings  and  customs  of  benevo- 
lence arise  in  India  or  China  or  Japan,  with  their  highly 
praised,  elaborate  system  of  morals?  Among  Pagan  na- 
tions there  has  been  high  culture,  art  and  eloquence,  but 
little  humanity.  Greece  and  Rome  had  shrines  for  num- 
berless divinities,  forty  theatres  for  amusement,  thousands 
of  perfumery  stores,  but  no  shrine  for  brotherly  love,  no 
almshouse  for  the  poor.  Millions  of  money  were  expend- 
ed on  convivial  feasts,  but  nothing  for  orphans  or  for 
homes  for  widows.  ‘ In  all  my  classical  reading,’  says 
Professor  Packard,  ‘ I have  never  met  with  the  idea  of 
an  infirmary,  or  hospital,  except  for  sick  cats  (a  sacred 
animal)  in  Egypt.’  ”* 

Dr.  Dellinger  says  : “ Among  the  millionaires  of  Rome 
there  was  not  one  who  founded  a hospice  for  the  poor  or  a 
hospital  for  the  sick.” 

“ The  sympathies  of  the  heathen  have  never  extended 
beyond  the  class,  or  at  widest  the  nation ; but  those  of 
Christianity  are  as  wide  as  the  human  race.  Christianity 
alone  has  established  hospitals  for  an  alien  race  on  the 
simple  ground  of  a common  human  brotherhood.”! 

Christianity  was  but  in  its  early  centuries  when  Fabi- 
ola,  a Roman  lady  of  ancient  and  noble  lineage,  founded 

*“  The  Growth  of  the  Kingdom  of  God."  Sidney  Gulick.  p.  265. 
t"  Life  of  Peter  Parker,  M.D."  1896.  p.  345. 


Malpractice  in  Heathen  Lands 


27 


the  first  famous  Christian  hospital.  This  hospital  was 
situated  some  distance  from  the  city,  in  a healthy  location. 
Its  fame,  we  are  told,  spread  throughout  the  Roman  Em- 
pire “ from  the  Egyptians  and  Parthians  to  the  cities  of 
Britain.”  Fabiola  sold  her  very  large  patrimony  and 
founded  a convalescent  home  in  connection  with  the  hos- 
pital. “ She  constituted  herself  a nurse,  the  first  of  her 
order,  and  was  in  the  habit  of  bearing  the  sick  about,  and 
of  bathing  their  sores  on  which  others  would  not  look. 
No  less  generous  of  her  person  than  of  her  purse,  she 
braved  discomfort  that  would  have  discouraged  others 
and  seemed  to  feel  that  in  caring  for  the  wounds  of  her 
patients  she  was  caring  for  those  of  her  Saviour.  The 
same  devotion  is  praised  also  in  the  case  of  the  Empress 
Flacilla,  who  went  herself  to  the  hospitals,  took  care  of 
the  sick,  prepared  their  food,  tasted  their  drink,  and  per- 
formed for  them  all  the  duties  of  a menial ; and  when  they 
sought  to  turn  her  from  her  purpose,  she  replied  : ‘ Let  the 
Emperor  distribute  his  gold ; this  I will  do  for  them  on 
whose  behalf  he  holds  his  Empire.’  ”*  It  is  only  on  the 
banks  of  the  stream  that  flows  from  the  throne  of  God  that 
there  grows  the  tree  whose  leaves  are  for  the  healing  of 
the  nations. 

Look  at  the  treatment  of  the  insane  in  these 
Cruelty  to  lands  and  compare  it  with  that  in  Syria,  China, 
insane.  Arabia  or  Persia.  In  the  latter  country,  “ the 

poor  lunatic  is  chained,  his  feet  fastened  in  the 
stocks,  is  constantly  beaten  and  half  starved  with  the  idea 
that  if  badly  treated  the  devil  will  the  sooner  leave  him. 
And  then,  as  a last  resource  when  the  friends  have  grown 
tired  of  even  this  unkind  care  of  their  relative,  the  lunatic 
is  given  freedom  in  the  desert.  His  hands  are  tied  behind 
his  back  and  he  is  led  out  into  the  desert  and  is  never 
heard  of  again.” 

We  believe  we  are  right  in  stating  that  there  is  not 
a single  asylum  for  the  treatment  of  the  insane  by  mod- 
ern principles  in  the  whole  of  Syria  and  Persia,  though 
probably  before  the  year  has  passed  there  will  be  one 
established  at  Lebanon.  Mr.  Waldmeier,  to  whose  earn- 
est advocacy,  together  with  that  of  two  eminent  asylum 

* “ Hospitals  and  Asylums  of  the  World,”  Burdette,  Vol.  III.,  p.  34, 


28 


The  Healing  of  the  Nations 


physicians,  this  first  asylum  will  be  mainly  due,  records 
that  the  condition  of  the  mentally  diseased  in  Syria  defies 
description.  “A  young  fellow  of  twenty-three  years  be- 
came insane  with  acute  mania.  Of  course,  he  was 
chained  and  actually  walled  up  in  a cave.  Through  a 
hole  they  used  to  throw  him  sometimes  a few  dried  figs 
and  some  bread.  He  became  just  like  a wild  beast;  his 
nails  grew  long  like  claws,  and  he  used  to  tear  the  rats 
and  mice  which  were  in  that  abode  into  pieces  to  satisfy 
his  hunger.  . . . He  did  more  that  would  be  unseem- 

ly to  mention.  He  was  relieved  by  death  at  last,  having 
been  in  this  fearful  state  for  four  years.”  Another  pa- 
tient in  a different  part  of  Syria  was  put  in  iron  chains 
and  given  in  charge  of  two  merciless  fellows,  who  beat 
him  until  relieved  by  death. 

“ The  Muhammedans  have  a place  at  Nablous  for 
those  who  have  lost  their  reason,  and  this  place  is  called 
El  Khudr,  the  patron  of  which  is  the  prophet  Elijah, 
who  shows  his  power  in  casting  out  devils  from  the 
madjaneen.  If  there  is  any  Muhammedan  who  is  madja- 
noon,  they  bring  him  to  El  Khudr  at  Nablous.  There  he 
is  put  at  once  into  a horrible  position ; his  arms  and  feet 
are  put  around  a pillar,  and  as  they  are  not  long  enough 
to  meet  they  are  fastened  together  with  chains.  In  this 
cruel  position  the  poor  sufferer  sits  naked,  day  and  night, 
on  the  ground,  deprived  of  the  use  of  his  arms  and  feet. 
A little  food  is  given  himbythe  man  who  has  the  oversight 
of  the  place.  Of  cleanliness  we  cannot  think  here;  the 
filth  defies  description.  A Muhammedan  sheikh  comes 
from  time  to  time  and  reads  to  the  insane  portions  from 
the  Koran,  and  implores  the  prophet  Elijah  to  cast  the 
demon  out  from  the  man.  Then  the  sheikh  binds  amu- 
lets around  his  arms  and  feet  as  charms  and  bleeds  him  in 
different  parts  of  the  body.”  In  this  Bicetre  of  the  East 
no  Pinel  has  yet  arisen  to  unchain  the  maniac  and  inaugu- 
rate more  rational  lines  of  treatment. 

The  writer  will  never  forget  a conversation  he  had 
one  morning  on  the  steps  of  a hotel  in  Jerusalem  concern- 
ing the  care  of  the  insane.  The  proprietor  was  speaking 
with  the  earnestness  and  conviction  of  one  who  himself 
had  come  into  contact  with  the  terrible  lack  of  proper  pro- 


Malpractice  in  Heathen  Lands 


29 


vision  for  the  care  of  such  cases.  A friend  in  a compara- 
tively good  family  had  become  mentally  afflicted  and  no 
place  suitable  could  be  found  for  his  reception.  “ Surely,” 
he  said  to  us,  " if  Christians  believed  what  they  say  they 
believe,  they  would  seek  out  and  care  for  those  who  have 
no  man  to  care  for  them.”  “ Care  for  those  who  have  no 
man  to  care  for  them  ” — the  words  rang  through  our 
thoughts  for  weeks  afterward.  Was  not  this  exactly  the 
purpose  for  which  Christ  came?  They  that  are  whole 
have  no  need  of  a physician,  but  they  that  are  sick. 

If  any  reader  would  urge  the  objection  that  such  work 
would  be  useless  for  the  extension  of  the  Kingdom  of 
God,  we  would  give  a two-fold  reply.  Firstly,  if  this  is  a 
plain  and  imperative  duty  toward  humanity,  who  of  us 
is  hardy  enough  to  deny  its  religious  importance,  both  as 
an  act  of  obedience  to  the  laws  of  the  love-life,  and  as 
a spectacular  demonstration  of  that  life  before  others? 
Secondly,  we  would  remind  such  objectors  that  many 
forms  of  insanity  are  showing  with  modern  treatment  a 
recovery  ratio  varying  from  forty  to  sixty  per  cent. 
Would  it  not  be  worth  while  to  do  this  work  for  the  sake 
of  that  proportion  of  cases  whose  recovery  will  be  as- 
sured and  who,  therefore,  will  come  as  legitimately  into 
the  field  for  evangelizing  efforts  as  any  other  sick  or  dis- 
eased in  these  lands?  It  is  instructive  to  us  to  remember 
in  this  connection  the  example  of  Jesus  Christ  toward 
those  who  were  mentally  unsound  in  His  day. 

Not  only  is  there  cruelty  in  these  dark  places 
Uaipractice.  Q£  tjie  ear^jlj  there  is  abundant  evidence 
of  what,  in  civilized  communities,  is  indictable  criminal 
malpractice,  as  well  as  pure  cruelty  and  neglect.  “ It  is  not 
unusual  in  polygamous  households  for  discarded  or  un- 
cared for  wives  to  bribe  the  midwife  to  inflict  such  an 
injury  upon  the  favorite  wife  as  shall  render  her  incapa- 
ble of  further  child-bearing.”  Mrs.  Bird-Bishop  states 
that  during  her  travels  in  Asia  she  was  asked  no  fewer 
than  200  times  for  drugs  which  would  take  away  a favor- 
ite wife.  We  know  that  abortion-mongers  are  by  no 
means  infrequent  in  the  great  cities  of  Christian  lands. 
Yet  here  at  least  they  have  to  pursue  their  craft  secretly, 
because  of  the  pressure  of  a growingly  healthy  public 


30  The  Healing  of  the  Nations 

opinion  on  the  matter.  Where  there  are  no  licenses  re- 
quired to  practice  Medicine,  where  superstition  and  gross 
ignorance  combine  to  allow  anything  to  be  done  which 
is  dictated  by  the  priest-physician  or  meddlesome  mid- 
wife, where  there  is  no  such  thing  as  healthy  public  opin- 
ion, there  are  the  very  elements  in  which  the  charlatan 
can  flourish  and  pursue  his  abominable,  nefarious  and 
deadly  traffic. 

The  immoral  procedures  to  which  thousands  of  women 
are  subjected  in  the  name  of  medicine  in  these  countries 
are  beyond  recital  on  the  printed  page  or  the  public  plat- 
form. Occasionally  the  press  in  our  own  land  rings  with 
the  story  of  some  poor  fellow  who  has  degraded  his  pro- 
fessional knowledge  to  ruin  morally  and  physically  a weak 
and  ignorant  woman.  The  conscience  of  noble  woman- 
hood tingles  at  the  thought  of  such  degradation  to  one  of 
their  sex. 

A great  American  preacher  has  said  that  one  of  the 
supremest  contributions  of  Christianity  is  the  gift  of  a 
burning  heart  to  a world  out  of  heart.  The  religion  of 
Jesus  is,  after  all,  the  jubilee  of  kindheartedness,  the 
epiphany  of  exalted  womanhood.  The  high  position  of 
women  to-day  is  the  product  of  Christianity.  Shall  not, 
then,  the  hearts  of  Christian  women  burn  within  them  as 
Jesus  Himself  draws  near  and  interprets  to  them  from 
these  new  scriptures  of  knowledge  the  things  concerning 
Himself?  It  is  the  Master  who  is  suffering  in  the  persons 
of  those  who  are  sick  and  in  prison  and  are  left  uncared 
for,  untended  and  unvisited. 

Here  is  far  more  than  mere  cruelty  or  immorality.  It 
is  touching  the  secret  springs  of  a nation’s  life.  It  is  of 
imperial  importance.  If  the  wife  and  mother  be  degraded, 
love  cannot  flourish  and  the  home  is  blasted.  If  the  home 
is  blasted  the  national  unit  of  strength  is  destroyed  and 
there  is  moral  decadence.  This  is  exactly  the  sight  with 
which  we  are  confronted  in  these  lands.  Women  of  Amer- 
ica and  women  of  Britain,  will  you  not  rise  to  this  oppor- 
tunity for  rescuing  not  only  the  women  in  these  countries, 
but  also,  through  them,  purifying,  ennobling  and  uplifting 
the  national  life  and  conscience? 

The  sick  and  injured  of  these  lands  are  crushed  like 


Malpractice  in  Hcacnen  Lands  31 

pack-ice  between  two  approaching  icebergs.  On  the  one 
side  is  disease  claiming  from  them  their  life ; on  the  other 
are  the  hardly  less  agonizing  attempts  at  treatment. 
“ Quackery  is  a miasmatic  jungle  around  which  the  clean 
vitalizing  work  of  the  Gospel  stands  out  wholesomely.” 

Even  when  death  is  approaching,  similar 
Cruelty  to  the  cruel  practices  are  persisted  in.  An  aged 
Doors  of  Death,  parent  sick  and  dying  is  often  carried  off  to 
a hilltop  and  left  there  with  a pot  of  water 
and  a few  barley  balls,  to  perish.  “ In  China,  when  all 
hope  is  given  up  of  a patient’s  recovery,  the  custom  is  to 
dress  them  at  once  in  grave  clothes  and  to  remove  them  to 
a board  and  trestles  away  from  the  ordinary  bed,  so  that 
it  shall  not  be  defiled.”  Their  diagnosis  of  approaching 
death  is  none  too  accurate,  so  that  it  often  happens  that 
the  closing  hours  or  days  are  spent  in  terrible  discomfort 
and  pain  and  the  end  hastened  by  this  shameful  neglect. 
A missionary  wrote  us  recently  from  North  China,  say- 
ing he  had  been  called  in  to  a case  of  a man  who  was  dy- 
ing. The  hubbub  of  wailing  and  lamentation  was  so 
great  as  to  make  conversation  with  the  patient  almost  im- 
possible.* 

We  would  mentally  contrast  such  scenes  with  those  in 
the  home  lands  when  relatives  and  friends  are  passing 
from  us  to  be  with  Him.  Here  all  is  done  in  those  closing 
hours  which  love  and  forethought  can  devise  for  the 
amelioration  of  pain  and  the  quiet  peacefulness  of  the 
sick  one.  There  it  is  noise  and  din,  wailing  and  mourn- 
ing, cold  and  neglect,  and  utter  and  hopeless  darkness. 

“The  paths  of  pain  are  thine.  Go  forth 
With  patience,  trust  and  hope  ; 

The  sufferings  of  a sin-sick  earth 
Shall  give  thee  ample  scope. 


* “ The  sick,  if  homeless,  are  transported  from  doorway  to  doorway,  since  it  is  the 
leral  custom  to  hold  a man  responsible  for  the  funeral  expenses  of  a stranger  dying  at 
his  gate,  and  he  is,  moreover,  exposed  to  blackmail  under  such  suspicious  circumstances. 
In  Korea  an  instance  is  recorded  in  a recent  communication  from  a missionary,  in  which 
a sick  man  was  hurriedly  transported  from  village  to  village  for  a period  of  five  days, 
without  food,  the  inhabitants  of  each  village  fearing,  in  case  he  should  die  within  its 
precincts,  ‘that  his  spirit  would  remain  to  haunt  them  and  work  them  mischief.' ” 
(Christian  Missions  and  Social  Progress.  Dr.  Jas.  S.  Dennis.  Vol.  I.) 


32 


The  Healing  of  the  Nations 


Beside  the  unveiled  mysteries 
Of  life  and  death  go  stand, 

With  guarded  lips  and  reverent  eyes, 
And  pure  of  heart  and  hand. 

So  shalt  thou  be  with  power  endowed 
From  Him  who  went  about 

The  Syrian  hillsides  doing  good 
And  casting  demons  out. 

That  good  Physician  liveth  yet, 

Thy  friend  and  guide  to  be  ; 

The  Healer  by  Gennesaret 

Shall  walk  the  rounds  with  thee.” 


VALUE  OF  MEDICAL  MISSIONS 


“ He  is  a path,  if  any  be  misled  ; 

He  is  a robe,  if  any  naked  be  ; 

If  any  chance  to  hunger,  He  is  bread  ; 

If  any  be  a bondman.  He  is  free  ; 

If  any  be  but  weak,  how  strong  is  He  1 
To  dead  men,  life  He  is  ; to  sick  men  health, 

To  blind  men  sight,  and  to  the  needy  wealth  ; 

A pleasure  without  loss,  a treasure  without  stealth,” 


“ A thing  is  great  partly  by  its  traditions  and  partly  by  its  opportunities 
— partly  by  what  it  has  accomplished  and  partly  by  tlie  doors  of  service- 
ableness  of  which  it  holds  the  key.” 

— George  Adam  Smith. 


“ A Christian  man  is  the  most  free  lord  of  all,  and  subject  to  none  ; a 
Christian  man  is  the  most  dutiful  servant  of  all  and  subject  to  every  one.” 

— Martin  Luther. 


“ I will  follow  that  system  of  regimen  which,  according  to  my  ability 
and  judgment,  I consider  for  the  benefit  of  my  patients,  and  abstain  from 
whatever  is  deleterious  and  mischievous.  I will  give  no  deadly  medicine 
to  anyone  if  asked,  nor  suggest  any  such  counsel.  . . . With  purity 

and  with  holiness  I will  pass  my  life  and  practice  my  art.” 

— Hippocrates'  Oath , from  “ Genuine  Works  of  Hippocrates ,” 
by  Frances  Adams. 


34 


VALUE  OF  MEDICAL  MISSIONS 


The  reasons  for  Medical  Missions  are  by 
Kame  to  othe»  no  means  exhausted  by  the  consideration  of 
Missionaries.  ^he  physical  needs  in  heathen  lands  result- 
ing from  ignorance,  superstition,  cruelty 
and  malpractice. 

A strong  argument  for  the  association  of  physicans 
with  missionary  operations  might  be  built  up  on  the  sin- 
gle fact  of  the  requirements  of  other  missionaries  and  their 
families  for  medical  aid.  Every  year  a little  army  sails 
from  Christian  lands  as  missionaries.  This  wave  of  con- 
secrated life  breaks  not  only  on  distant  shores,  but  is  car- 
ried far  inland  away  from  many  of  the  resources  of  mod- 
ern civilization.  Every  missionary  represents  his  coun- 
try and  his  Church  and  their  reputation  in  a measure  rests 
upon  him.  The  responsibility  for  their  health  is  one  of 
serious  moment,  considered  even  on  the  low  ground  of  the 
expense  at  which  the  Boards  are  at  for  their  transporta- 
tion to  the  field. 

No  civilized  government  sends  its  agents  on  an  expe- 
dition in  a difficult  climate  without  adequate  medical  as- 
sistance. Modern  warfare  depends  for  success  as  much 
on  preparation  against  fevers  as  on  shot  and  shell 
and  skillful  marksmanship.  Yet  scores  of  Ameri- 
cans and  Europeans  are  in  the  mission  field  with  their 
families  far  away  from  any  skill  in  the  time  of  sickness. 
When  we  realize  the  value  of  these  lives,  when  we  remem- 
ber the  large  proportion  of  missionaries’  children  who  in 
turn  become  missionaries,  one  sees  in  a new  light  the  holy 
privilege  of  being  able  to  prolong  their  lives  by  thought- 
ful advice  and  to  save  them  when  the  ravages  of  climate 
are  doing  their  best  to  break  and  shatter  their  health. 

35 


36  The  Healing  of  the  Nations 

In  Turkey  some  years  ago  a missionary's  child  died; 
a second  died ; then  a third  little  one  was  taken.  The 
fourth  was  ill,  and  the  parents  made  a desperate  effort  to 
reach  a doctor  in  time.  They  went  a long  journey,  only 
to  hear  the  verdict  “ too  late  ” and  to  turn  homeward, 
bringing  back  with  them  their  last  child  to  lay  beside  the 
other  three. 

“ In  the  interior  of  most  foreign  lands  the  only  medical 
aid  available  is  that  rendered  by  the  missionary  doctor. 
Excepting  in  the  principal  seaports  of  China,  Africa  and 
Turkey,  in  the  large  cities  and  cantonment  centres  of  In- 
dia, and  in  a few  corresponding  places  in  other  lands,  the 
only  skilled  physicians  at  hand  are  those  possessed  by  the 
missions  themselves.  It  is  a matter  that  calls  for  grati- 
tude to  God  that  the  lives  of  the  missionaries — the  most 
valuable  commodity  of  a mission — have  frequently  been 
saved,  their  health  preserved  and  sickness  avoided  by  the 
timely  attendance  and  advice  of  the  resident  missionary 
physician.  It  is  a matter  to  be  regretted  that  not  infre- 
quently devoted  and  earnest  missionaries  eager  to  preach 
the  Gospel  in  new  and  remote  districts  have  prematurely 
sacrificed  their  lives  or  permanently  injured  their  health 
for  the  cause,  when  with  a knowledge  of  Medicine  in  their 
own  part,  or  the  help  of  a competent  physician,  they  might 
have  saved  them,  to  the  greater  good  and  enlargement  of 
the  work  they  sought  to  establish.”* 

Again  and  again  a missionary  has  to  make  a journey 
of  hundreds  of  miles,  where  traveling  is  excessively  slow, 
in  order  to  reach  some  medical  mission  and  consult  the 
physician  there  on  his  own  behalf  or  for  a wife  or  child 
with  whom  he  has  had  to  journey.  This  is  not  only  a 
very  expensive  matter  in  money,  but  also  dislocates  the 
work  of  the  mission  by  the  enforced  and  prolonged  ab- 
sence of  one  or  more  missionary  agents.  It  is,  of  course, 
recognized  that  in  some  parts  of  the  field  medical  mis- 
sionaries are  not  required  and  would  be  superfluous.  But 
that  is  not  true  of  vast  tracts  of  unoccupied  territory 
which  could  best  be  reached  through  the  association  of 
medical  work  with  that  of  the  ordinary  clerical  mission- 
ary. Ought  there  not  to  be  a medical  missionary 

* The  Medical  Mission.  W.  J.  Wanless.  p.  58  et  seq. 


Value  of  Medical  Missions 


37 


within  easy  access  of  every  considerable  mission  sta- 
tion for  the  maintenance  of  the  health  of  those  workers,  as 
well  as  for  his  or  her  own  special  influence  ? 

The  opportunities  of  practice  abroad  are 
Value  to  the  Pro-  far  more  numerous  than  at  home.  Our 
fession  at  Home,  profession  needs  the  contributions  of  this 
immense  field  of  clinical  experience.  Al- 
ready workers  in  mission  lands  have  rendered  valuable 
service  in  many  departments.  This  has  been  notably  so 
in  such  subjects  as  tropical  fevers,  tumors,  calculi,  eye 
and  skin  diseases.  The  enormous  number  of  cases  pass- 
ing annually  through  the  hands  of  many  mission  sur- 
geons make  their  records  and  generalizations  of  peculiar 
importance. 

We  note  that  in  one  hospital  in  North  India  during 
1897,  1,200  operations  were  performed  on  the  eye  and 
nearly  100  malignant  tumors  were  removed.  We  under- 
stand that  this  was  the  work  of  two  surgeons.  It  is  re- 
corded of  Dr.  Kerr,  of  China,  one  of  the  oldest  medical 
missionaries,  that  he  has  had  700,000  cases  which  have 
been  aided,  that  he  has  performed  40,000  operations  and 
stands  second  only  to  Sir  William  Thompson  in  the  num- 
ber of  times  he  has  operated  for  calculus — 1,300  times. 

The  gain  to  the  profession  at  large  would  have  been 
far  greater  if  medical  missionaries  had  possessed  greater 
leisure.  The  overworked  and  undermanned  condition  of 
almost  every  medical  mission  has  made  the  task  of  col- 
laboration of  experience  an  excessively  difficult  one.  Yet 
they  stand  in  these  far  away  outposts  of  the  world  in  a 
position  where  they  can  render  very  real  service  by  the 
records  of  their  experience,  which  will  be  of  value  to  their 
successors  on  the  field  and  through  the  profession  to  gov- 
ernments and  to  commerce. 

Moreover,  not  only  does  our  profession  claim  the  re- 
sults of  such  unique  experience,  but  it  needs  medical  mis- 
sionaries for  its  own  sake. 

New  temptations  are  springing  up  in  the  spirit  of 
commercialism,  overriding  and  selfish  ambition  which 
threaten  to  rob  the  profession  of  Medicine  of  something 
which  has  so  illumined  it  in  the  past,  “ The  practice  of 


3? 


The  Healing  of  the  Nations 


the  healing  art  is  an  occupation  intrinsically  dignified.  The 
true  physician  recognizes  in  the  most  abject  human  being 
a fellow  man  and  in  the  most  exalted  nothing  more.” 

“ We  claim  to  constitute  or  represent  a liberal  profes- 
sion and  the  very  idea  or  essence  of  a liberal  profession, 
as  distinguished  from  a trade,  is  that  the  acquisition  of 
money  is  not  its  primary  object.” 

Again  and  again  this  nobility  has  been  strenuously 
maintained.  When  some  feeble  attempts  were  made  to 
obtain  a patent  for  the  use  of  ether  or  to  keep  secret  the 
process  of  etherization,  or  when  within  the  past  few 
months  a patent  was  sought  for  the  preparation  of  an  anti- 
toxin, the  indignation  of  the  profession  was  aroused. 
“ The  money  changers  were  driven  from  the  temple  of 
humanity.” 

Prof.  Geo.  H.  Wilson  was  responsible  for  the  state- 
ment many  years  ago  that  “ the  gratuitous  professional 
services  of  medical  men  far  exceed  in  number  and  weight 
the  gratuitous  professional  services  of  ministers  of  all 
Churches  or  denominations.” 

Our  great  profession  in  every  age  has  had  the  reputa- 
tion of  nobility  and  self-sacrifice.  This  is  one  of  our 
most  precious  heritages.  We  can  conceive  of  few  things 
which  will  so  maintain  this  high  repute  and  ennoble  and 
glorify  its  beneficent  character  as  the  going  forth  from 
the  midst  of  it  of  a band  of  men  and  women  to  surrender 
their  talents  for  those  who  are  in  physical  and  spiritual 
destitution.  As  a great  surgeon*  said,  “ We  ask  you  to 
honor  the  profession  by  helping  it  to  honor  and  adorn  it- 
self, by  helping  it  to  write  on  the  bells  of  the  horses, 
‘ Holiness  unto  the  Lord,’  by  helping  it  to  be  instrumental 
in  saving  the  souls  as  well  as  the  bodies  of  men,  by  helping 
it  to  place  in  its  coronet  new  jewels  of  greatest  value  and 
brightest  lustre,  by  helping  it  to  twine  in  its  garland  a 
new  wreath  from  the  ever-green  and  ever-growing  plant 
of  renown.”  In  thus  honoring  the  profession  we  shall 
honor  the  profession’s  Head,  the  Lord  Healer,  God,  who 
became  man,  and  bore  our  sicknesses  and  carried  our  sor- 
rows. 

All  we  have  we  owe  to  God.  “ Ought  ” is  just 

* Late  Dr.  Miller,  Professor  of  Surgery,  Edinburgh  University. 


Value  of  Medical  Missions 


39 


The  Need  the  old  Anglo-Saxon  for  “ owe.”  Talent  is  a 
to  god.  debt  of  obligation.  He  is  no  longer  on  earth  as 
man,  but  His  command  still  endures,  “ Go  . . . 
heal  . . . preach.”  The  withdrawal  of  miraculous 

cures  is  no  better  reason  for  ceasing  the  work  of  healing 
which  He  began  than  is  the  disappearance  of  miraculous 
gifts  of  tongues  a reason  for  ceasing  to  study  language  in 
order  to  preach  the  Gospel  of  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven. 

God  is  no  longer  manifested  in  human  form,  going  in 
and  out  among  our  sick  ones.  The  hand  of  Christ  is  no 
longer  laid  on  the  fevered  brow ; it  is  for  your  hand  to  do 
that  now  and  to  reduce  the  fever  by  all  the  means  within 
your  power.  His  touch  of  the  sightless  eyeballs  does  not  to- 
day restore  vision.  He  has  commissioned  you  to  do  that: 
with  your  cataract  needle  and  to  be  a light  to  the  inly 
blind,  showing  forth  the  Father  that  He  may  be  glorified 
in  your  good  works.  The  summer  evenings  when  the 
sick  could  be  gathered  at  the  door  for  the  Master  to  heal 
have  sped  away  from  the  world’s  Capernaums ; He  is 
seeking  for  representatives  to-day  who  shall  go  in 
Christ’s  stead  and  do  His  healing  work,  beseeching  men 
to  be  reconciled  to  Him.  His  wondrous  works  were  to- 
kens of  superior  knowledge  and  power.  He  has  given 
the  key  of  knowledge  and  power  to  us  to  acquire  by  dili- 
gent study.  Is  not  the  power  with  which  He  entrusts  us 
even  greater  than  that  of  the  early  disciples  whose  work 
was  but  for  a few  years  and  was  local  and  limited  in  its 
Dperation  ? 

GOD  NEEDS  YOU.  Eighteen  hundred  years  ago 
He  said,  “ Go  ye  into  all  the  world  and  preach  the  Gospel 
:o  the  whole  creation  . . . and  these  signs  shall  fol- 

ow  . . . they  shall  lay  their  hands  on  the  sick  and 

:hey  shall  recover.” 

To-day,  half  the  world  has  never  heard  those  good 
idings.  He  has  given  to  medical  men  a talent  of  singu- 
ar  power  for  proclaiming  that  message.  What  are  we 
loing  with  it? 

The  benefits  of  Medical  Missions  as  a 
.eeuits  ot  Medical  pioneer  agency  have  proved  themselves 
Missions— as  a so  great  as  to  form  an  argument  for  the 

Pioneer  Agent.  immediate  and  widespread  increase  of 

this  method  of  work.  Time  and  again 


40 


The  Healing  of  the  Nations 


doors  fast  closed  against  the  ordinary  missionary  have 
been  gladly  opened  to  the  healer-preacher.  Twice  had 
the  Church  Missionary  Society  tried  to  enter  Kashmir; 
and  twice  had  they  failed.  Then  Elmslie  was  sent 
as  a Medical  Missionary.  His  splendid  services  as  a 
surgeon  gradually  broke  down  prejudices  and  now  for 
many  years  there  has  been  a most  successful  missionary 
station  in  that  province. 

A few  years  ago  Dr.  MacKinnon  was  trying  to  secure 
ground  for  a hospital  in  Damascus.  The  fanatical  Mos- 
lem population  of  the  city  opposed  his  claims.  Just  at 
this  time  “ a judge  in  one  of  the  law  courts  of  Damascus 
came  in  hot  haste  to  the  house  of  Dr.  MacKinnon  and  be- 
sought him  to  rush  off  at  once  to  the  abode  of  the  Chief 
Cadi.  ‘ What  is  wrong?  ’ said  the  English  hakim.  ‘ Have 
pity  and  come  at  once ! ’ was  the  eager  response ; ‘ The  Ca- 
di’s little  boy,  so  dearly  loved,  is  very,  very  ill.’  The  doc- 
tor went  and  was  promptly  shown  in.  The  inmates  were 
in  great  alarm ; dread  and  disquietude  were  everywhere 
apparent.  Ushered  into  the  sick  chamber,  the  English  ha- 
kim saw  a child  of  three  years,  livid  and  well  nigh  pulse- 
less. A glance  at  the  child,  a glance  around  and  the  diagno- 
sis is  made — opium  poisoning.  Then  and  there  began  a 
struggle  with  death.  For  full  two  hours  he  fought  and 
wrought,  stimulating  the  dying  boy  and  keeping  up  con- 
stant artificial  respiration.  A hard  and  anxious  fight 
it  was,  but  in  the  end  death  was  routed.  Slowly  the  flick- 
ering signs  of  life  grew  stronger  and  steadier,  until  at 
last  anxiety  began  to  lose  itself  in  gratitude  and  in  praise 
to  God.  With  words  of  heartfelt  thanks  the  powerful 
Cadi  embraced  the  foreigner,  declaring  that  through  life 
he  is  his  debtor.”  The  result  of  all  this  was  that  the 
Cadi,  who  was  chief  presiding  officer  of  the  court,  be- 
gan to  display  a new  interest  in  the  pending  lawsuit,  and 
did  his  best  to  push  the  case  rapidly  through  and  see  that 
justice  was  done  to  the  missionary.  The  tide  of  feeling 
among  the  people  quite  turned  in  favor  of  the  doctor,  and 
they  paid  him  the  unusual  compliment  of  rising  from 
their  seats  the  next  time  he  entered  the  law  court. 

Dr.  Nevius  says  that  he  was  at  one  time  trying  to  es- 
tablish a station  in  an  interior  city  of  China  and  was  find- 


Value  of  Medical  Missions 


41 


ing  great  difficulty  because  of  the  prejudice  and  supersti- 
tion of  the  people.  One  day  when  speaking  to  a crowd  a 
soldier  forced  his  way  up  and  addressed  him  very  respect- 
fully, showing  a deep  scar  on  his  cheek.  He  said  that  he 
had  been  severely  wounded  in  battle  and  that  in  the  hos- 
pital in  Shanghai  Dr.  Lockhart  had  dressed  and  healed 
his  wounds.  Incidents  like  that  do  more  to  disarm  sus- 
picion of  the  motives  of  missionary  work  than  any  other 
thing. 

At  the  risk  of  repeating  an  old  story  we  quote  the  in- 
cident of  Kenneth  Mackenzie’s  pioneering  work  in  one  of 
the  large  Chinese  cities.*  “ Tien-tsin  furnishes  a ro- 
mance in  the  history  of  medical  missions.  When  Dr.  J. 
Kenneth  Mackenzie  reached  this  city  in  March,  1879, 
everything  looked  dark  for  the  medical  mission.  While 
at  prayer  with  the  native  converts,  a member  of  the  Eng- 
lish Legation  learned  that  the  wife  of  the  Viceroy  was  se- 
riously ill,  the  doctors  having  wholly  despaired  of  her 
case.  The  Englishman  entering  an  earnest  plea  for  the 
foreign  doctors,  the  Viceroy  committed  his  wife’s  case  to 
the  care  of  Dr.  Mackenzie,  who  was  speedily  summoned 
to  the  vice-regal  palace,  and  in  a few  weeks  Lady  Li  was 
quite  well.  Her  treatment  was  followed  by  successful 
surgical  operations  in  the  presence  of  the  Viceroy.  The 
court  was  stirred  and  great  public  interest  excited.  The 
Viceroy  agreed  to  pay  the  current  expenses  of  both  a hos- 
pital and  dispensary  when  erected.  In  a short  time  a 
building  was  completed  with  wards  for  sixty  patients,  the 
Chinese  themselves  contributing  the  sum  of  $10,000.” 
t “ If  you  will  try  and  realize  the  conditions  of  an  East- 
ern city,”  writes  the  Doctor,  “ you  will  quickly  under- 
stand that  when  a great  potentate  takes  you  by  the  hand 
the  land  is  all  before  you.  So  we  found  that  in  our  daily 
visits  to  our  noble  patient  our  steps  were  thronged  with 
eager  suppliants,  who,  hearing  that  the  Viceroy’s  wife 
was  undergoing  medical  treatment,  sought  for  relief  from 
the  same  source.  You  know  how  a story  often  grows  as 
it  spreads,  and  so  this  case  of  cure  was  being  magnified 
into  a miracle  of  healing.  A Chinese  official  residence  is 

* Encyclopedia  of  Missions.  1891.  Vol,  II.,  p,  5a. 

f Biography  J,  Mackmta,  p.  189, 


42  The  Heating  of  the  Nations 

composed  of  numerous  quadrangles,  one  behind  the  other, 
with  buildings  and  gateways  surrounding  each.  To  reach 
the  family  apartments  we  had  to  pass  through  these  nu- 
merous courts  and  here  we  w'ere  beset  with  patients  from 
the  crowds  assembled  outside  the  gates,  and  the  friends 
of  soldiers,  doorkeepers,  secretaries  and  attendants  who 
had  succeeded  in  gaining  an  entrance.  The  poor  also  be- 
sieged us  as  we  entered  and  left  the  yamen.  It  was  truly 
a strange  gathering  we  found  daily  collected  round  the 
outer  gates — the  halt,  the  blind  and  the  deaf  were  all 
there  waiting  to  be  healed ; indeed,  the  whole  city  seemed 
to  be  moved.  High  officials  sought  introductions  to  us 
through  the  Viceroy  himself.” 

During  Lady  Li’s  illness,  Miss  L.  H.  Howard,  M.  D., 
an  American  missionary,  was  installed  in  a suite  of  rooms 
in  the  official  residence  adjoining  her  ladyship’s  apart- 
ments. It  is  inconceivable  that  any  other  form  of  mis- 
sionary agency  could  have  produced  such  an  impression 
in  so  short  a time  as  to  make  these  procedures  possible. 

The  Hon.  John  W.  Foster,  ex-Secretary  of  State, 
says  : “A  special  feature  in  the  mission  work  of  the  world, 
to  which  great  enlargement  has  been  given  in  late  years, 
is  the  Medical  Missionary.  We  found  that  in  China, 
where  the  science  of  surgery  is  almost  unknown,  they 
were  proving  a most  helpful  adjunct  of  the  work,  a door 
of  access  to  the  people  not  otherwise  reached,  a ready 
means  of  overcoming  prejudice  and  opposition.  I am 
pleased  to  bear  hearty  testimony  to  the  scientific  attain- 
ments and  the  Christian  zeal  of  the  male  and  female  work- 
ers in  this  department  and  to  commend  the  field  as  one 
which  can  never  be  overcrowded  by  the  Church  at  home.” 
Several  years  ago,  Dr.  Valentine  settled  down  at  work 
as  a medical  missionary  in  an  Indian  city.  God  laid  His 
strong  hand  upon  him  in  a serious  illness — a hand  which 
has  so  often  been  laid  upon  His  servants  to  lead  them 
forth  into  a larger  life  and  fuller,  more  influential  service. 
Valentine  had  been  recommended  to  go  to  the  great  snowy 
Himalayas  for  change  and  rest.  Mountains,  especially 
snow-clad  ones,  are  Nature’s  rejuvenators,  even  in  expec- 
tation and  in  memory.  On  his  way  he  passed  through 
Jeypore  and  paid  a formal  call  on  the  Maharajah.  “ The 


Value  of  Medical  Missions 


43 


Maharajah  told  him  that  his  wife,  the  Maharanee,  was 
very  ill,  and  that  the  native  physicians  had  given  her  up. 
Dr.  Valentine  said  that  he  would  be  glad  to  see  her  and 
do  what  he  could  for  her.  The  way  was  opened  up.  The 
Maharajah  was  pleased  and  arranged,  difficult  as  it  is  to 
gain  access  to  the  women  there,  that  Dr.  Valentine  should 
visit  the  Ranee.  . . . The  result  was  that  through 

God’s  blessing  upon  Dr.  Valentine’s  treatment  the 
Maharanee  was  restored  to  health.  The  Mahara- 
jah said,  ‘What  can  I do  for  you?’  He  replied, 
1 Let  me  preach  the  Gospel  here.’  The  Maharajah  said, 
' If  you  will  stay  here  and  be  my  private  physician,  I shall 
be  glad.’  Dr.  Valentine  rejoined,  ‘ But  I am  a missionary 
of  the  Gospel.’  (No  missionary  had  previously  been  al- 
lowed to  settle  in  Jeypore,  that  great  stronghold  of  idola- 
try, perhaps  one  of  the  greatest  strongholds  in  Northern 
India.)  The  Maharajah  asked,  ‘ But  you  will  be  my  pri- 
vate physician,  will  you  not?  ’ He  replied,  ‘ Yes,  but  only 
upon  one  condition,  that  you  will  allow  me  to  preach  the 
Gospel  from  one  end  of  the  province  to  the  other  without 
let  or  hindrance.’  The  Maharajah  agreed  and  Dr.  Val- 
entine remained  at  Jeypore  for  fourteen  years.” 

“ The  Medical  Missionary  has  often  been  able  to 
penetrate  out-of-the-way  places,  places  where  religious 
opposition  has  been  most  severe  and  race  barriers  most 
formidable,  districts  where  the  severity  of  the  climate  has 
made  it  unsafe  for  any  but  the  medical  missionary  to  en- 
ter. With  his  healing  mission  as  his  defense,  and  the 
Word  of  God  as  his  weapon,  the  medical  missionary  has 
been  able  to  safely  traverse  tracts  of  country  never  before 
trod  by  Christian  feet.  In  districts  once  visited  his  re- 
turn is  eagerly  looked  for.  And  in  the  train  of  his  pio- 
neering labors  other  forms  of  mission  work  beside  his 
own  have  been  duly  inaugurated.  For  his  sake  other 
missionaries  are  not  only  tolerated,  but  frequently  wel- 
comed. The  physician’s  presence  has  not  only  saved  the 
precious  lives  of  other  missionaries,  but  has  often  made 
the  continuance  of  a station  possible,  when,  otherwise, 
abandonment  would  have  been  inevitable.  ...  It  is, 
moreover,  a fact  that  not  only  have  individuals  been  ap- 
proached, homes  entered,  stations  occupied  and  districts 


44 


The  Healing  of  the  Nations 


prepared  by  the  medical  missionary  which  apparently 
could  not  have  been  effected  by  any  other  class  of  work- 
ers, but  whole  countries  have  been  opened  up  to  the  Gos- 
pel by  the  elemental  labors  of  missionary  physicians.”* 

It  has  been  said  that  “ China  was  opened  to  the  Gospel 
at  the  point  of  the  lancet  ” by  Dr.  Peter  Parker.  Dr.  Al- 
len, an  American  medical  missionary,  was  the  first  Prot- 
estant foreigner  to  reside  permanently  in  Korea.  He  was 
ultimately  put  in  charge  of  a hospital  built  for  him  by  the 
King  of  Korea,  and  later  he  was  one  of  a Korean  Em- 
bassy to  the  United  States  Government  at  Washington. 

Formosa  was  opened  up  largely  by  the  work  of  medi- 
cal missionaries.  Dr.  G.  L.  Mackay,  of  the  Canadian 
Presbyterian  Mission,  was  the  pioneer  missionary  to 
North  Formosa,  and  the  first  to  build  a hospital  there.  At 
the  outset  he  had  almost  to  compel  his  patients  to  come 
to  him.  During  fourteen  years  of  service  he  extracted 
2X,ooo  teeth  in  his  hospital  and  on  tours,  and  by  this  sim- 
ple operation  he  has  won  his  way  to  the  hearts  of  thou- 
sands of  people. 

Siam  is  another  illustration  of  a country  opened  up 
to  mission  work  largely  through  the  influence  of  the 
missionary  physicians,  Drs.  Giitzlaff,  Bradley  and  House 
being  the  pioneers.  In  Japan,  during  the  inception  of 
missionary  work,  fields  outside  of  the  open  ports  were 
opened  and  held  by  the  establishment  of  dispensaries  by 
medical  missionaries.  At  the  centres  where  medical  work 
was  carried  on,  it  broke  down  the  prejudices  and  opposi- 
tion of  religious  teaching  and  opened  the  way  for  general 
evangelical  work. 

Similarly  in  the  Turkish  Empire,  Persia,  Arabia,  and 
throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of  the  great  Dark  Con- 
tinent of  Africa  have  medical  missionaries  been  used  of 
God  in  preparing  the  way  for  the  coming  of  His  King- 
dom. There  are  certain  fields  of  missionary  endeavor 
where  Medical  Missions  appear  destined  to  exert  a pecu- 
liarly powerful  influence.  This  would  seem  to  be  espe- 
cially true  in  Muhammedan  countries.  The  comparative 
neglect  of  the  strongholds  of  Islam  has  been  one  of  the 
darkest  shadows  resting  upon  missionary  polity.  The 

» The  Medical  Miasion,  W.  J.  Wanles*.  Chap,  VI,,  p,  47. 


Value  of  Medical  Afissions 


45 


difficulties  of  such  work  are  enormous.  Opposition  has 
been  fierce;  ignorance  and  fanatical  bigotry  have  been 
encountered  in  their  most  belligerent  forms.  The  evan- 
gelization of  Muhammedan  people  has  been  called  the 
Gibraltar  of  Heathendom,  the  impregnable  rock  against 
which  Christianity  has  seemed  to  make  little  progress. 
Any  plan  of  operations  professing  to  be  specially  adapted 
to  overthrow  these  great  and  allied  forces  deserves  most 
earnest  consideration.  Medical  Missions  claim  to  constitute 
such  a plan.  At  Busrah,  Arabia,  Dr.  Worrell  treated 
nearly  1,000  Moslems  during  1897,  and  by  this  means  the 
Gospel  was  proclaimed  to  hundreds,  scarcely  one  of  whom, 
but  for  the  medical  work,  would  have  come  within  sound 
of  the  good  tidings  of  salvation. 

Similar  testimony  comes  from  Ispahan,  Persia,  West 
Africa,  Egypt,  Palestine,  and  Kashmir.  “ No  student  of 
Medical  Missions  will  challenge  the  statement  that  Med- 
ical Missions  are  the  most  important  manifestation  at  the 
present  time  in  the  whole  world  of  the  practical  spirit  of 
Christianity.”  It  is  this  essentially  practical  character 
which  appeals  to  the  feelings  of  those  whose  hearts  are 
case-hardened  against  the  impact  of  doctrine.  It  is  the 
sesame  which  opens  the  heart  when  the  keys  of  persua- 
sion, argument,  invitation  and  education  have  failed  to 
move  the  bolt.  The  medical  missionary  has  not  to  go  out 
and  seek  the  indifferent.  They  come  to  him  of  their  own 
accord ; perhaps  at  first  it  is  but  for  the  material  bene- 
fits which  he  can  confer  upon  them,  but  this  affords  him 
a splendid  theatre  of  demonstrating  Christianity  in  action, 
which,  followed  up  by  teaching,  rapidly  breaks  down 
bigotry  and  makes  the  patient  realize  in  the  physician  a 
fellow  man  who  has  a higher,  deeper  and  sweeter  motive 
in  life  than  any  to  which  his  creed  has  given  him  access. 

It  has  been  stated  that  Dr.  Mackenzie,  of 
Results  of.  Medical  Tien-tsin,  was  made  instrumental  in 
iii^Numeroug'and  bringing  more  souls  to  Christ  in  one  year 
Far-reaching.  than  all  the  other  members  of  the  mission 
put  together.  We  would  not,  however, 
stake  the  reputation  of  Medical  Missions  on  any  such  sta- 
tistical ratio  of  conversions  compared  with  those  due  to 
other  forms  of  work.  If  the  results  were  tabulated,  it 


46 


The  Healing  of  the  Nations 


would  probably  be  found  that  Medical  Missions  were  able 
to  show  a smaller  proportion  of  conversions  than  other 
lines  of  missionary  activity.  When  one  remembers  how 
many  seemed  to  come  to  Christ,  seeking  only  that  their 
lameness  might  be  healed,  or  their  leprosy  cleansed,  and 
caring  little  or  nothing  for  His  invitation,  “ Take  My 
yoke  upon  you  and  learn  of  Me,”  we  are  not  surprised  if 
the  same  be  true  with  His  followers. 

"Yet  it  was  well,  and  Thou  hast  said  in  season, 

‘ As  is  the  Master  shall  the  servant  be.’ 

Let  me  not  subtly  slide  into  the  treason 

Seeking  an  honor  which  they  gave  not  Thee.” 

We  believe  that  if  the  results  were  but  one-tenth  of 
what  they  are,  they  would  still  be  worth  having  because 
the  prosecution  of  such  work  is  a magnificent  object-les- 
son. Many  of  these  children,  standing  in  shadow,  in  spir- 
itual intelligence,  will  appreciate  better  the  spectacular 
tableaux  vivantes  of  Christian  love  than  a closely  reasoned 
thesis  on  the  subject. 

But  the  results  of  medical  evangelism  are  by  no 
means  small.  They  are  both  numerous  and  far-reaching. 
The  Bishop  of  Victoria,  Hong  Kong,  who  has  been  con- 
nected with  the  diocese  twenty-two  years,  says,  “ I have 
known  convert  after  convert  in  our  hospital  at  Ningpo, 
and  I can  certainly  point  most  distinctly  to  three  churches 
which  have  been  born  in  it.”  The  first  convert  of  that 
hospital  was  an  opium  smoker,  who  came  to  be  cured.  He 
asked  that  an  evangelist  might  be  sent  to  his  own  home  in 
a distant  city.  One  was  sent  and  two  years  later  thirty- 
seven  converts  were  baptized  through  the  work  of  the 
hospital  patient  and  the  native  preacher.  Now  there  is 
a strong  church  of  700  baptized  believers. 

One  of  the  medical  missionaries  of  the  London  Mis- 
sion at  Amoy,  China,  states  that  1,200  to  1,400  towns  and 
villages  are  yearly  represented  at  the  hospital.  As  a 
result  of  the  cure  of  one  man  seventeen  years  ago,  no  less 
than  seven  Christian  congregations  have  been  formed, 
with  a membership  of  from  thirty  to  one  hundred  in  each. 
Dr.  Gillison  told  the  author  of  seven  men  coming  to  his 
hospital  at  Hankow  from  a distance  of  320  miles.  He 
operated  for  cataract  on  the  eye  of  one  man  and  restored 


Value  of  MedicaC  Missions 


47 


the  sight.  He  said  he  would  do  the  same  for  the  other 
eye  in  three  months’  time.  Gillison  forgot  about  the 
case,  but  three  months  after  the  man  returned  with  forty- 
seven  others ! 

In  reply  to  inquiries  in  a Chinese  city,  one  well-known 
worker  says : “ Nearly  all  admitted  to  the  church  in  this 
city  have  been  brought  in  through  the  hospital.”  An- 
other estimates  that  “ one-third  of  the  membership  is  the 
result  of  the  influence  of  hospital  work.”  Another  writes, 
“ The  majority  of  those  who  have  been  admitted  here  to 
our  church  were  from  the  hospital.”  A writer  in  the 
Church  Missionary  Intelligencer  says : “ I will  mention 
one  thing  that  I learned  in  talking  with  the  American  mis- 
sionaries. They  told  me — several,  if  not  all  of  them — 
that  they  scarcely  ever  met  with  a person  interested  in 
Christianity,  or  a Christian  inquirer,  in  the  villages  within 
a radius  of  150  miles  from  Hang-chow  who  had  not  been 
brought  to  be  interested  and  to  inquire  through  the 
means  . . . of  . . . teaching  in  hospital.”  The 

twenty-second  annual  report  of  the  Mission  to  Lepers  in 
India  and  the  East  mentions  that  more  than  200  lepers 
had  confessed  Christ.  There  are  now  over  1,000  profess- 
ing Christians  in  these  leper  asylums. 

In  China  a missionary  physician  successfully  operated 
on  the  eyes  of  a parent  and  her  two  daughters.  The 
mother  had  never  gazed  into  the  faces  of  her  children  be- 
fore, and  her  delight  and  gratitude  knew  no  bounds.  The 
light  shone  in  further  and  deeper  than  mere  visual  per- 
ception and  revealed  to  her  and  her  daughters  the  sight  of 
the  Lord  Jesus  standing  over  them  as  the  One  Who  had 
died  to  save  and  redeem.  Father  and  mother  and  both 
girls  were  converted  and  through  their  influence  a suc- 
cessful little  church  of  a hundred  persons  now  meets  for 
worship  in  their  village. 

And  the  influence  of  Medical  Missions  is  far-reaching 
in  more  than  a geographical  sense.  “ Now  I hold,”  wrote 
a Chinese  missionary,  “ that  of  the  thirty  thousand  who 
have  passed  through  our  wards  and  whose  homes  are 
scattered  over  an  area  three  or  four  times  larger  than  Eng- 
land, everyone  may  be  taken  as  a centre  of  influence  more 
or  less  favorable  to  Western  thought  and  Western  men, 


48 


The  Healing  of  the  Nations 


and  so  to  the  messengers  of  Christ,  and  thus  by  the  work 
done  at  our  . . . hospital  we  are  preparing  the  way 

for  future  conversions  on  a pentecostal  scale.” 

Many  definite  spiritual  results  must  ever  be  unknown. 
This  is  naturally  the  case  when  the  attraction  of  medical 
aid  draws  patients  from  far-away  places  to  which  they 
return  when  cured,  and  are  often  lost  to  subsequent  ob- 
servation. The  germinating  power  of  this  seed,  sown  in 
uncongenial  soil  away  from  Christian  help  and  sympathy, 
is  constantly  filling  those  on  the  field  with  praise. 

Some  years  ago  a mandarin  who  had  lost  his  nose  pre- 
sented himself  before  a medical  missionary.  He  had 
heard  of  the  high  repute  of  the  foreign  physician  and  he 
wanted  to  test  it  by  getting  him  to  make  him  a new  nose. 
Other  surgeons  had  been  asked,  but  all  were  too  busy 
with  more  important  duties.  At  length  he  reached  this 
hospital,  1,000  miles  from  home.  The  doctor  took  him  in 
for  three  months  and  then  he  went  away  with  what  he 
came  for — a new  nose.  “ It  was  not  a very  handsome 
one,”  says  the  doctor,  “ but  was  a nose,  made  of  his  own 
flesh  and  blood.  He  said  I had  made  him  a foreigner’s 
nose  instead  of  a Chinaman’s,  but  he  was  so  proud  of  it, 
nevertheless,  that  he  carried  a little  mirror  in  his  sleeve, 
and  was  continually  looking  at  this  new  facial  ornament. 
This  gentleman  took  away  from  our  hospital  also  some- 
thing which  he  did  not  come  for — a more  or  less  extensive 
knowledge  of  the  Gospel  . . . and  while  in  the  hos- 

pital had  read  the  New  Testament  through  and  through. 
But  he  read  it  only  that  he  might  argue  against  it,  and 
when  he  left  us  was  so  bitterly  opposed  to  Christianity 
that  I put  him  down  in  my  notebook  as  ‘ a surgical  suc- 
cess, but  an  evangelical  failure.’  That  entry  I must  now 
confess  was  a record  of  lack  of  faith  in  me.  I ought  to 
have  known  that  so  much  Gospel  truth  was  not  likely  to 
lie  dormant  in  that  man’s  heart,  and  it  did  not.  Last  year 
the  news  reached  me  that  in  his  distant  home  that  gentle- 
man had  gone  to  the  missionary,  professed  his  faith  in 
Jesus  and  had  been  received  by  baptism  into  the  Christian 
Church.”  Doubtless,  in  scores  and  hundreds  of  villages 
in  India,  China  and  elsewhere  there  are  similar  cases. 
Surely,  surely,  the  results  of  Medical  Missions  are  spiritu- 
ally numerous  and  far-reaching ! 


INFLUENCE  OF  MEDICAL  MISSIONS 


“ Religion  has  ever  been  the  saving  force  in  human  history.  How 
otherwise  can  we  explain  the  moral  helplessness  and  social  decay  of 
humanity,  as  a universal  rule,  up  to  the  present  hour,  wherever  the 
spiritual  inspiration  and  the  ethical  force  of  religion  have  been  absent? 
Left  to  itself,  society  seems  to  be  self-destructive  and  to  have  no  remedy 
within  its  own  resources.” 

— James  S.  Dennis,  D.D. 

“ Sacrifice  is  the  language  of  love.  Those  who  do  not  sacrifice  are 
like  men  living  on  the  top  of  gold  mines,  or  sailing  across  beds  of  pearl 
oysters,  unconscious  of  the  riches  within  their  very  rea<  h.  It  is  no  sacri- 
fice to  give  a cup  of  cold  water  when  a cup  of  something  better  is  within 
reach.” 

— War  Cry. 


*'  X thougnt  these  men  will  carry  Hence 
Promptings  their  former  life  above, 

And  something  of  a finer  reverence 
For  beauty,  truth  and  love.” 

— James  Russell  Lowell. 


“ In  effecting  any  radical  changes  of  this  kind,  doubtless  there  would 
be  great  inconvenience  and  loss  incurred  by  af  the  originators  of  the 
movement.  That  which  can  be  done  with  perfect  convenience  and  with- 
out loss  is  not  always  the  thing  that  most  needs  to  be  done,  or  which  we 
are  imperatively  required  to  do.  ’ ’ 

— John  Ruskin. 


IV 


INFLUENCE  OF  MEDICAL  MISSIONS 

The  work  of  medical  missionaries  not 
Results  Abide  in  only  touches  the  tenderest  side  of  man, 
Memory  and  win  but  they  impress  his  memory  and  abide  in 

Gratitude.  h£s  thoughts  more  persistently  than  words 
which  he  hears.  The  kindly  forethought 
and  patient  attention  of  some  friend  to  us  when  we  were 
ill  cannot  be  effaced  from  the  pages  of  remembrance  even 
when  all  his  words  have  been  forgotten. 

Sickness  is  a Valley  of  Humiliation  ; there  is  little  sub- 
limity in  the  sick-room  ; it  is  suggestive  of  helplessness. 
Men  feel  when  prostrated  by  illness  much  like  Napoleon 
returning  baffled  from  Moscow — “God  Almighty  has  been 
too  much  for  me;’  The  stronger  and  more  active  the  life 
has  been  in  the  past  in  succoring  others,  the  more  keenly 
does  it  feel  the  humiliation  of  being  served.  Much  of  this 
feeling  is  a healthy  manifestation  of  dislike  for  all  that  is 
frail  and  maimed  and  decrepit.  In  nature  we  see  this 
strong  bias  acting  beneficially  in  the  evolution  of  the  race, 
by  placing  an  embargo  upon  all  that  is  weak  and  unfitted 
for  life’s  strain  and  struggle.  One  of  the  wonders  of 
Christianity  has  been  the  transformation  of  this  weakness 
into  might  of  character;  this  humiliation  of  body  into 
spiritual  triumph. 

The  sickly  sentimentality  of  a generation  ago,  which 
made  it  appear  that  beauty  of  soul  was  only  attained 
through  weakness  of  body,  and  that  made  all  good  chil- 
dren die  young  after  protracted  illnesses,  was  but  a para- 
site and  parody  foisted  upon  the  true  parable  of  pain. 
Character,  robust,  resourceful  and  ready  for  active  serv- 
ice, is  still  formed  in  the  rough  battleground  of  life,  where 
strength  meets  strength  and  grapples  for  the  victory.  But 
the  service  Christianity  has  rendered  is  to  show  that  there 
are  other  schools  of  character,  and  that  the  product  of 

Si 


5J 


The  Healing  of  the  Nations 


such  teaching  as  pain  and  sickness  maj'  be  no  less  noble 
and  forceful  in  uplifting  power  than  that  produced  in  the 
roar  of  the  busy  mart  or  amid  the  rattle  of  shot  and  shell. 

The  Christian  faith,  therefore,  has  a message  of  cour- 
age and  hope  to  bring  to  the  sick-bed  and  the  very  nature 
of  illness  makes  the  sufferer  especially  ready  to  receive  it. 
Life  wears  a busy  aspect  to  the  poor  of  these  countries 
where  so  little  is  earned  by  such  great  labor.  Many  feel 
that  they  have  not  time  to  look  into  the  matter  of  this  for- 
eigner’s religion ; they  are  not  specially  interested  in  it. 
To  others  of  official  class  or  high  birth,  the  thought  of 
social  degradation  is  enough  to  keep  them  from  close  in- 
quiry. Even  if  they  listen  in  a bazar  or  a preaching  hall, 
enough  is  not  gleaned  to  enable  them  to  fully  understand 
the  purport  of  the  message.  But  overtaken  by  accident 
or  sickness,  either  class  may  be  ready  then  to  surrender 
prejudices  for  the  sake  of  the  physical  benefits  which  they 
know  the  foreign  doctor  can  bestow.  Lying  week  after 
week  in  hospital,  knowledge  of  the  doctrine  deepens  and 
gratitude  awakes.  This  gratitude  is  often  most  touching 
and  is  exhibited  years  after  the  patient  has  left  hospital. 

Dr.  Douthwaite,  of  Chefoo,  relates  that  when  leaving 
the  city  the  general  in  command,  with  his  officers,  came 
v ith  a regiment  of  soldiers  and  lined  up  before  the  hos- 
pital. On  going  out  to  them  they  dropped  on  their  knees 
and  stayed  there  while  one  of  their  number  addressed  the 
doctor,  thanking  him  for  his  services.  The  Emperor  of 
China  showed  his  appreciation  of  the  medical  missiona- 
ries’ work  during  the  recent  war  by  conferring  on  sev- 
eral of  them  the  Order  of  the  Double  Dragon. 

“ The  father,  whose  only  child,  a beautiful  daughter, 
had  a tumor  of  seven  pounds  weight  removed  from  her 
back,  after  she  was  discharged  well,  returned  with  a scroll 
bearing  a poetical  inscription  to  the  physician  to  this  ef- 
fect : ‘A  grievous  disease  had  entwined  itself  around  my 
little  daughter ; I had  gone  in  various  directions,  seeking 
for  physicians  of  distinction,  and  had  expended  much 
money  upon  them  in  vain.  When  I heard  of  the  foreign 
physician  in  the  provincial  city,  I took  my  little  daughter 
by  the  hand,  and  repaired  to  his  residence  with  the  speed 
of  a courser.  He  received  and  treated  my  daughter,  re- 


Influence  of  Medical  Missions  53 

moving  the  flaw  from  the  gem,  and  now  she  is  a perfect 
pearl  again.” 

Often  a patient  returns  in  gratitude  to  thank  the  mis- 
sion surgeon  and  has  to  be  restrained  from  falling  down 
and  worshipping  him.  Some  of  these  expressions  of 
thanks,  mingled  as  they  are  with  heathenish  ideas,  are 
strong  evidences  of  the  influence  of  missionary  medicine. 

A woman  had  come  to  a mission  hospital  for  cataract. 
Not  long  after  the  operation  had  been  performed,  she  was 
seen  kneeling  with  bare  knees  upon  a number  of  date 
stones  on  a brick  bed.  “ Does  it  not  pain  you?  ” she  was 
asked.  “Yes,”  was  the  reply,  “and  that  is  why  I am 
doing  it.  Since  I came  to  this  hospital  you  have  tried  to 
open  my  eyes,  but  you  have  also  opened  my  heart.  I have 
learned  of  Jesus’  love  for  me.  I am  poor  and  aged  and 
can  do  nothing  for  Him.  Because  He  has  suffered  such  in- 
finite pain  for  my  sake,  I thought  to  myself  I would  suf- 
fer a little,  for  Him.”  It  was  the  idea  of  one  just  emerg- 
ing from  heathenism,  but  had  insight  into  the  demands 
made  upon  her  by  so  great  love. 

“ On  one  of  my  recent  boat  journeys,”  writes  a mis- 
sionary, “ I put  in  about  dusk  at  the  market  town  of 
Hwang-sz-Kang,  and  I had  no  sooner  finished  preaching 
on  shore  than  a man  rushed  after  me  on  to  the  boat,  with 
hands  full  of  peaches,  which  he  pressed  me  to  accept.  I 
told  him  I was  not  aware  that  I had  done  anything  to 
warrant  my  taking  them,  but  he  would  hear  of  no  refusal. 

‘ You  are  from  Hankow,  are  you  not?  ’ ‘ Yes,’  I replied. 

‘ Well,  you  will  probably  not  remember  me,  but  a few 
years  ago  I went  up  to  your  hospital  there,  very  ill  indeed, 
and  had  it  not  been  for  Dr.  Mackenzie  I certainly  should 
not  have  lived.  And  not  only  so,  but  when  all  my  money 
was  exhausted,  he  supported  me  for  a whole  month  and 
both  he  and  the  native  assistants  treated  me  with  so  much 
kindness  that,  when  I saw  you  here,  knowing  as  I did  that 
you  must  be  connected  with  the  mission,  I thought  the 
least  that  I could  do  was  to  give  you  some  slight  acknowl- 
edgment of  the  kindness  shown  me  at  Hankow.  I am 
but  a poor  man,  a huckster,  and  in  a very  small  way,  but 
I shall  be  only  too  glad  if  you  will  accept  these  peaches.’ 
And  feeling  hardly  satisfied  with  this  expression  of  grati- 


54 


The  Healing  of  the  Nations 


tude,  though  a very  poor  man,  he  brought  later  in  the 
evening  a further  present  of  peaches  and  sweetmeats,  to 
show  how  grateful  he  was  for  the  kindness  he  had  re- 
ceived.” We  think  that  the  perfume  of  that  fruit  must 
have  been  exceeding  fragrant  and  the  taste  very  sweet  to 
the  missionary.  When  some  heaven-born  artist 

“ Shall  draw  the  thing  as  he  sees  it 
For  the  God  of  Things  As  They  Are.” 

this  will  be  one  of  the  delicate  miniatures  of  loving  life 
to  hang  beside  the  picture  of  the  woman  with  the  alabaster 
box.  That  canvas,  like  the  other,  will  hold  high  place  in 
the  gallery  of  the  House  Beautiful. 

The  Chinese  used  to  say  of  Dr.  Fred.  Roberts  that 
they  never  saw  any  one  so  like  the  Lord  Jesus.  “ If  we 
want,”  said  Dr.  Arthur  Lankester,  “ to  write  the  teaching 
of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  in  very  big  letters  so  that  those 
who  cannot  read  theology  and  do  not  understand  science 
or  philosophy  can  read  it  very  easily,  the  best  way  of  do- 
ing it,  whether  it  be  for  an  individual,  a village,  a town,  a 
district,  or  a nation,  is  to  start  medical  aid  for  the  poor.” 

We  may  take  the  Bible  to  a heathen  and  he  may  burn 
it  or  throw  it  aside.  Civilization  and  education  may  only 
turn  him  from  heathenism  into  an  infidel  or  materialist. 
It  may  be  hard  to  convince  him  that  you  are  not  preach- 
ing for  the  sake  of  a salary.  But  let  that  man  come  to 
you  in  bodily  distress  and  be  relieved  and  cured,  and  he 
will  learn  to  love  you  and  be  grateful  and  that  is  often  but 
the  first  step  to  loving  the  Saviour  Who  commissioned  you 
in  this  work. 

The  return  of  the  one  leper  must  have  rejoiced  the 
Master’s  heart,  when,  depressed  by  the  heedless  ingrati- 
tude of  the  other  nine  who  left  Him  unthanked  for  the 
work  He  had  wrought.  Similar  gratitude  was  recently 
expressed  by  some  like  afflicted  ones  in  the  following 
touching  words  :*  “ To  Our  Most  Honorable  Friends  and 
Supporters : We,  the  men  and  women  of  the  Leper  Asy- 
lum at  Purulia,  send  you  a thousand  thanks.  We  are 
well  in  body  so  far  as  may  be  expected,  though  some  of  us 
suffer  great  bodily  pains,  which  have  been  mitigated,  how- 


* The  Double  Cross  and  Medical  Missionary  Record,  April,  1896.  p.  77. 


Influence  of  Medical  Missions  55 

ever,  by  the  kindness  you  have  shown  us  so  continually. 
We  have  now  good  houses  to  dwell  in,  tanks  to  bathe  and 
wash  in,  wells  for  giving  us  drinking  water,  and  a doctor 
and  medicines  to  heal  our  ulcers.  We  have  teachers  and 
pastors  who  instruct,  guide  and  comfort  us.  All  these 
advantages  we  owe,  next  to  God,  to  you,  our  benefactors 
and  friends.  Our  nearest  relatives  have  abandoned  and 
forsaken  us,  and  there  is  no  place  left  for  us  on  earth 
where  we  could  rest  and  stay  without  molestation.  Peo- 
ple seeing  us  from  a distance,  shouted,  ‘Begone!  Be- 
gone ! ’ Ah,  that  was  hard ! ” We  wonder  how  many  of 
ourselves  in  like  condition  would  be  in  such  a grateful 
mood  as  these  lepers.  We  are  reminded  of  what  we  think 
was  a sentence  in  one  of  Charles  Lamb’s  letters  in  which 
he  thus  concludes  in  substance:  “ I am  just  recovering 
from  pneumonia,  and  am  suffering  a good  deal  with  rheu- 
matism and  asthma,  and  have  gout ; otherwise,  I am  very 
well ! ” 

The  bye-products  of  some  mines  have 
The  Broader  influence  become  as  valuable  as  the  very  ore  for 
of  nedicai  Missions,  which  the  mines  were  opened.  The  re- 
sults of  Medical  Missions,  unplanned 
and  quite  unpremeditated,  have  astonished  many  who 
have  no  interest  in  the  extension  of  the  Kingdom  of  God, 
as  such.  Though  the  salvation  of  souls  must  and  shall 
ever  be  the  cap  sheaf  and  the  keystone  of  Medical  Mis- 
sions, yet  these  sub-influences  are  not  thereby  ruled  out 
of  court  as  unimportant.  “ In  the  nature  of  the  case,” 
said  Sir  William  Acland,  “ Medicine  has  relation  to  every 
individual  of  the  human  race  in  whatever  climate,  in  what- 
ever state  of  social  organization  or  disorganization ; of 
whatever  religion ; whether  in  peace  or  at  war.”  Mission- 
ary Medicine  has  not  exhausted  its  influence  when  it  has 
healed  the  sick  one  and  brought  him  to  know  the  Christ 
Who  for  us  men  came  down  to  die  and  Who  ever  liveth  to 
make  intercession.  It  reaches  round  and  exerts  its  power 
on  a larger  world  than  that  gathered  in  the  hospital  wait- 
ing room.  It  pioneers  education,  it  stimulates  scientific 
methods ; it  inculcates  sanitary  principles  and  introduces 
plague  precautions  and  deals  with  epidemics.  Again  and 
again  it  becomes  of  political  importance;  its  weight  is 


56  The  Healing  of  the  Nations 

thrown  on  the  side  of  benevolent  undertakings ; while  all 
the  time  it  is  raising  in  estimation  the  value  of  human  life 
and  the  sacredness  of  womanhood.  These  are  stars  of 
the  first  magnitude,  which  shine  brightly  in  the  firma- 
ment of  Christian  Sociology. 

Medical  Mission  work  destroys  caste.  In  the  waiting 
room  of  a dispensary  may  often  be  seen  sitting  side  by 
side  the  Brahmin,  Sudra  and  Shanar,  the  Pulayer  and  Pa- 
riah, the  devil  worshipper,  the  worshipper  of  Siva,  the 
Muhammedan,  the  Roman  Catholic  and  Protestant,  both 
men  and  women  of  all  castes  and  creeds. 

A year  or  two  ago  The  Independent  gave  an  account 
of  a concert  successfully  organized  by  the  United  States 
Minister  at  Teheran  for  the  benefit  of  the  Presbyterian 
Medical  Mission  in  that  city.  The  support  accorded  it 
was  an  interesting  testimony  of  the  way  such  a mission 
appeals  to  wider  humanity.  The  Diplomatic  Corps  and  a 
large  number  of  Persian  officials  gave  their  hearty  sup- 
port, and  when  a subscription  list  was  started  it  was 
headed  by  the  Prime  Minister  and  was  contributed  to  by 
every  Persian  official  at  the  capital  as  well  as  the  entire 
European  colony,  including  Russians  and  Turks.  The 
concert  was  so  successful  that  the  Shah  himself  requested 
it  to  be  repeated  at  the  palace  and  personally  received  his 
guests. 

A brilliant  writer  in  the  *Daily  Telegraph  says:  “I 
have  always  acted  on  the  theory  that  the  persons  who 
know  most  of  the  social  conditions  of  any  people  are  the 
doctors  and  the  clergy.  The  one  class  see  the  shadier 
and  the  other  the  brighter  side  of  humanity,  but  both 
go  down  to  the  depths.  . . . Above  all  is  it  the  case 

where  you  have  medico  and  parson  combined.  . . . 

There  may  be  better  ways  of  promoting  humanity  and  civ- 
ilization ; if  so,  one  would  like  to  see  them  at  work.  . . . 
It  may  be  allowed  to  count  in  our  estimate  that  once  a 
week  a few  hundred  thousands  of  these  people  are  with- 
drawn from  Sundayless,  unresting  toil ; that  they  are 
taught  a higher  morality  and  a nobler  theology7 ; that  a 
ray  01  brightness  now  and  then  is  thrown  over  their  lot, 
and  lives  no  longer  demon-haunted  are  made  happier.  At 


* Daily  Telegraph,  London,  England,  July  35,  1898. 


Influence  of  Medical  Missions 


57 


any  rate,  it  is  safe  to  say  that  without  the  Christian  mis- 
sions there  would  not  exist  one  single  hospital  throughout 
the  length  and  breadth  of  China.  That,  at  least,  may  pass 
for  something.” 

Many  will  enthusiastically  admit  the  value  of  med- 
ical work,  altogether  apart  from  its  religious  motive 
and  purpose.  Dr.  Coltman  relates  that  when  com- 
ing across  the  Pacific  he  was  conversing  with  a fellow- 
passenger  who  professed  to  be  an  atheist.  “ Well,  I can 
see  the  good  of  medical  work  among  the  Chinese  or  any 
other  race  who  have  no  scientific  treatment  of  disease. 
It  is  humanitarian,  and  as  such  I would  subscribe  to  it.” 

It  was  this  humanitarian  spirit  in  women  medical  mis- 
sionaries which  helped  to  create  sentiment  in  India  lead- 
ing to  the  modification  of  the  marriage  laws.  “ Such  reve- 
lations of  inhumanity  connected  with  child  marriages  were 
brought  to  light  that  one  of  the  physicians  connected  with 
the  Methodist  Church  drew  up  a petition  which  was 
signed  by  fifty-five  women  physicians  and  presented  to 
the  Government,  pleading  that  the  marriageable  age  of 
girls  be  raised  to  fourteen  years.  While  the  Government 
was  flooded  with  petitions  and  memorials  from  native 
Christians,  Hindu  women  and  missionaries,  it  is  stated 
that  nearly  all  the  speakers  in  the  Legislative  Council  re- 
ferred to  the  facts  presented  in  this  memorial.”  Dr. 
James  Martineau  says : “ There  is  not  a secular  reform  in 
the  whole  development  of  modern  civilization,  which,  if  it 
is  more  than  mechanical,  has  not  drawn  its  inspiration 
from  a religious  principle.  Infirmaries  for  the  body  have 
sprung  out  of  duty  for  the  soul ; schools  for  the  letter, 
that  free  way  may  be  opened  for  the  spirit ; sanitary  laws, 
that  the  diviner  elements  in  human  nature  may  not  be- 
come hopeless  from  their  foul  environment.” 

Many  hospitals  and  dispensaries  are 
incentive  to  training  colleges  for  theoretical  and  prac- 
Higher  Education,  tical  instruction  in  Western  medicine. 

Thus  an  opportunity  is  afforded  of  bring- 
ing the  brightest  native  Christians  into  a sphere  of  influ- 
ence for  benefiting  future  generations.  The  work  that- 
has  been  done  in  these  directions  is  astonishing  to  any 


5» 


The  Healing  of  the  Nations 


who  have  acquaintance  with  the  full  curriculum  and  strin- 
gent requirements  set  forth  by  the  missionary  teachers. 

The  plan  adopted  in  most  cases  is  to  take  in  a number 
of  young  men  at  a time  for  a four  or  five  years’  curricu- 
lum and  to  receive  no  others  till  their  course  is  completed. 
This  makes  it  possible  for  the  busy  missionary  physicians 
to  take  up  with  all  the  students  at  once  the  subjects  requi- 
site for  the  first  year ; then  to  pass  to  second  year  subjects, 
and  so  on.  Dr.  Dugald  Christie,  of  Moukden,  Manchu- 
ria, began  such  work  single  handed  with  six  students  for 
a five  years’  course,  and  testifies  that  these  young  men 
have  given  great  satisfaction  and  promise  to  become  use- 
ful workers  in  the  Master’s  vineyard.  Similar  work  was 
carried  out  in  Madagascar  a few  years  ago.  More  than 
one  regular  college  now  exists  in  India  for  giving  like  in- 
struction in  medicine  as  a preparation  for  missionary  serv- 
ice. 

The  course  in  Beirut  Medical  School  is  on  a regularly 
graded  system.  It  lasts  four  years.  A preliminary  ex- 
amination in  English  is  required.  The  course  is  very 
thorough  and  has  reacted  on  the  whole  system  of  medical 
education  in  the  land  and  advanced  the  standard  of  med- 
ical learning.  Dr.  Valentine,  of  India,  has  been  enabled 
to  originate  several  institutions  for  the  educational  im- 
provement of  the  people,  such  as  a school  of  art,  a library, 
philosophical  institute,  museum,  as  well  as  examining  in 
government  schools  and  publishing  much  literature.  Be- 
fore the  first  woman  missionary  physician  had  left  Amer- 
ica for  India,  Dr.  Humphrey  had  begun  training  a few 
young  women  in  Medicine.  Now  there  is  a well  equipped 
School  of  Medicine  for  native  Christian  women  there. 

“ Medical  work  has  been  a spur  to  the 
An  Uplifting  Power  higher  education  of  women.  It  has  given 
to  womanhood,  woman  a higher  ideal  of  life,  for  every 
one  treated  in  a hospital  learns  something 
of  cleanliness  and  care  of  the  sick,  and  carries  away  a 
treasure  of  new  ideas  which  cannot  fail  to  bring  comfort 
and  health  to  cheerless  homes.” 

The  fact  that  attention  is  paid  to  suffering  women  by 
medical  missionaries  is  already  changing  the  prevalent 
ideas  as  to  the  inferiority  and  worthlessness  of  their  lives. 


Influence  of  Medical  Missions 


59 


The  seeds  are  thus  being  sown  for  a new  harvest  of  chiv- 
alry and  reverence  toward  womankind.  The  position 
which  medical  work  holds  can  hardly  be  better  stated  than 
by  the  words  of  a high  caste  Hindu,  who  when  asked  as  to 
the  method  most  likely  to  convert  their  people,  answered : 
“ We  do  not  fear  the  usual  method  of  mission  work,  such 
as  the  school,  printing-presses  and  bazar  preaching,  but 
we  do  fear  your  lady  zenana  worker,  and  we  dread  your 
lady  doctors ; they  enter  our  homes,  win  the  hearts  of  our 
women,  threatening  the  foundation  of  our  religion.”  The 
sociological  significance  of  the  single  fact  that  Medical 
Missions  raises  the  value  of  human  life  and  elevates  the 
position  of  women  in  society  can  hardly  be  overestimated. 
These  two  moral  conceptions  alone,  enforced  by  Christian 
practice,  are  sufficient  to  transform  the  whole  social  fabric 
of  non-Christian  lands. 

Scientific  Medicine  has  had  its  traditions 
Contributions  maintained  by  the  work  done  by  medical  mis- 
to  Science,  sionaries.  These  labors  have  been  another 
factor  of  sociological  importance.  :|:Rev.  W. 
A.  P.  Martin,  President  of  the  Imperial  University  in  Pe- 
king, said  that  it  was  not  easy  to  estimate  the  value  of  the 
books  prepared  by  missionary  physicians  or  to  enumerate 
the  scientific  and  other  periodicals  to  which  missionaries 
contributed.  There  was  such  a growing  demand  for 
scientific  books  that  he  could  not  spend  a night  in  an  inte- 
rior city  without  being  applied  to  by  some  of  the  best  citi- 
zens to  furnish  them. 

A large  number  of  medical  works  have  been  written 
or  translated  by  these  missionaries.  Dr.  S.  F.  Green 
wrote  thirty-two  treatises  in  Tamil,  including  a volume  on 
Obstetrics  of  258  pages,  a five-hundred-page  manual  of 
Surgery,  still  larger  books  on  Anatomy,  Physiology  and 
Practice  of  Medicine,  Eye  Diseases,  and  several  for  popu- 
lar use  by  mothers,  etc. 

Missionary  doctors  have  sent  home  valuable  speci- 
mens, illustrating  medical  botany,  and  twe  believe  that  we 
are  correct  in  stating  that  the  supplies  of  snake  poisons 

* Missions  and  Science,  p.  415. 

t Up  to  date  of  publication  the  author  has  been  unable  to  obtain  absolute  verification 
of  this  statement. 


6o 


The  Healing  of  the  Natio?is 


on  which  were  based  the  experiments  resulting  in  the 
manufacture  of  anti-venene  were  obtained  through  medi- 
cal missionaries. 

Cases  which  are  rare  and  unusual  in  the  home-coun- 
try are  often  quite  commonly  met  with  in  mission  dispen- 
saries and  the  missionary  in  love  with  his  profession  has 
an  opportunity  for  enriching  its  knowledge,  which  is  lim- 
ited only  by  the  leisure  possible  to  give  to  such  work.  The 
missionary  doctors  are  a power  for  civilization  because  of 
the  information  which  they  impart.  The  Chinese,  for  in- 
stance, are  great  quizzers,  and  the  information  imparted 
by  conversation  about  means  and  methods  used  in  West- 
ern lands  must  have  an  educational  influence  of  no  small 
importance.* 

The  service  rendered  to  geography  by  missionaries 
has  been  a rich  one,  though  in  this  case  medical  men,  if  Liv- 
ingstone’s splendid  record  be  excepted,  have  had  but  a mea- 
gre share  in  what  has  been  mainly  achieved  by  the  patient 
labor  of  other  missionaries.  Mr.  Colton,  the  famous  map- 
maker,  says  that  there  is  hardly  an  exploration  in  any  land 
which  does  not  acknowledge  its  indebtedness  to  missiona- 
ries. “ Carl  Ritter,  the  celebrated  geographer,  says  he 
could  not  have  written  his  great  work  but  for  the  material 
furnished  by  missionaries.” 

The  very  difficulties  under  which  work  has  to  be  per- 
formed by  medical  missionaries  have  often  been  fertile  in 
inventiveness,  as,  for  instance,  the  use  of  charred  straw  in 
Japan,  and  dressings  of  impregnated  sawdust  in  Kash- 
mir, as  well  as  many  clever  instruments  improvised  from 
very  simple  materials. 

One  of  the  most  important  hu- 
The  Example  Has  stimulated  mane  efforts  of  the  present  cen- 
other  Benevolent  tury  was  directly  due  to  the  med- 
Undertakings.  ical  missionary  work.  In  its  far- 

reaching  results  the  Lady  Duf- 
ferin  Fund  in  India  promises  to  be  one  of  the  great 
charities  of  that  or  any  other  land,  t “ Its  origin  has  all 
the  elements  of  a touching  romance.  In  Punna,  a city 

* There  are  now  medical  journals  published  in  India,  China  and  Syria,  and  medical 
congresses  have  been  held  from  time  to  time, 
t Indika,  p.  454. 


Influence  of  Medical  Missions  61 

about  a hundred  miles  from  Lucknow,  there  lives  a native 
prince — the  Maharajah.  In  1881  his  wife,  the  Maharani, 
was  suffering  from  a serious  and  lingering  disease.  Her 
case  was  desperate.  It  is  contrary  to  all  tradition  and 
propriety  that  a male  physician  should  enter  a zenana,  or 
lady’s  chamber,  and  make  such  diagnosis  as  might  secure 
intelligent  treatment.  Besides,  no  European  physician,  or 
indeed,  any  other  Euporean,  lived  in  Punna.  The  Prince 
had  heard  of  Miss  Beilby,  a missionary  physician,  living 
in  Lucknow,  and  he  sent  for  her  to  attend  his  suffering 
wife.  Miss  Beilby  not  only  responded  to  his  imploring 
appeal,  but  remained  with  her  patient  for  several  weeks. 
The  Rani  was  restored  to  health  through  the  missionary's 
skill  and  care.  Miss  Beilby  was  soon  to  return  to  Eng- 
land ...  to  take  her  degree  in  a medical  college. 
On  the  morning  of  her  departure  from  Punna,  she  called 
at  the  palace  to  say  good-bye  to  her  distinguished  patient. 
The  Rani  was  deeply  affected.  She  had  a great  burden 
on  her  heart,  and,  dismissing  all  her  ladies  and  attendants, 
said  : ‘ You  are  going  to  England,  and  I want  you  to  tell 
the  Queen  and  Prince  and  Princess  of  Wales,  and  the  men 
and  women  of  England,  what  the  women  of  India  suffer 
when  they  are  sick.  Will  you  promise  me?  ’ The  Rani 
was  emphatic  in  confining  her  wishes  to  one  thing : med- 
ical help  for  the  suffering  women  of  her  dear  India.  But 
she  was  not  willing  that  Miss  Beilby  should  intrust  the 
message  to  any  one  else;  she  must  deliver  it  herself  to  the 
good  Queen  of  England.  Miss  Beilby  explained  the  great 
difficulty  of  seeing  the  Queen  in  person  and  could  give  the 
Rani  little  encouragement  that  this  could  be  brought  to 
pass.  When  the  Rani  observed  her  readiness  to  do  what 
she  could,  she  asked  Miss  Beilby  to  write  down  the  mes- 
sage at  once.  ‘ Write  it  small,  Doctor  Miss  Sahib,  for  I 
want  to  put  it  into  a locket  and  you  are  to  wear  this  locket 
around  your  neck  until  you  see  our  great  Empress  and 
give  it  to  her  yourself.  You  are  not  to  send  it  through 
another.’  ” 

The  Queen  granted  an  audience  to  Miss  Beilby  and 
took  the  little  letter  out  of  the  locket  and  read  it.  She 
was  deeply  impressed.  “ We  had  no  idea  it  was  as  bad  as 
this.  Something  must  be  done  for  these  poor  creatures." 


6 2 


The  Healing  of  the  Nations 


She  sent  a message  of  sympathy  to  the  Rani  and  added : 
“ We  should  wish  it  generally  known  that  we  sympathize 
with  every  effort  made  to  relieve  the  suffering  state  of 
the  women  of  India.”  Lord  Dufferin  was  then  just  about 
to  take  up  his  duties  of  Governor-General  for  India.  The 
Queen  saw  Lady  Dufferin  and  impressed  on  her  the  im- 
portance of  making  efforts  to  bring  medical  assistance  to 
India’s  suffering  women. 

So  successful  were  her  efforts  that  a year  ago  it  was* 
reported  that  there  are  eleven  branches  working  under  the 
central  committee,  that  103  hospitals  and  dispensaries  offi- 
cered by  women  have  been  established,  while  in  these  hos- 
pitals, or  in  their  own  houses,  1,327,000  women  received 
medical  aid  from  women  during  1897.  Twenty-eight 
women,  with  British  medical  diplomas,  seventy  assistant 
surgeons  and  seventy  hospital  assistants  are  employed  in 
the  various  zenana  hospitals.  The  objects  of  the  associa- 
tion are  for  the  medical  tuition  and  training  of  women  as 
doctors,  hospital  assistants,  nurses  and  midwives,  the 
establishment  of  hospitals  and  dispensaries  under  the  su- 
perintendence of  women.  The  association  is  purely  phil- 
anthropic, though  not  missionary  in  any  other  sense.  A 
very  large  proportion,  however,  of  the  physicians,  etc., 
have  been  drawn  from  Christian  schools.  The  interest 
excited  in  this  noble  and  compassionate  work  has  been 
remarkable.  Scholarships  have  been  offered  and  funds 
subscribed  by  many  who  would  be  untouched  by  a purely 
religious  undertaking. 

Other  benevolent  acts  have  been  stimulated  from  the 
object  lessonof  Medical  Missions.  A few  years  ago  a well- 
to-do  Parsee  gentleman  gave $50,000  to  build  a hospital  for 
women  and  children,  t ‘‘An  Indian  woman  placed  at  the 
disposal  of  the  government  $60,000  for  carrying  on 
women’s  medical  work  in  the  province  of  Bengal.  An- 
other has  donated  $6,000  for  the  erection  of  a hospital  for 
women.” 

One  of  the  results  of  Dr.  Howard’s  attendance  on  Li 
Hung  Chang’s  aged  mother  was  a legacy  left  by  her  of 
$1,000,  which  is  stated  to  be  the  first  bequest  of  a Chinese 


* For  these  facts  we  are  indebted  to  Dr.  Jas.  S.  Dennis, 
t Women  in  Missions,  p.  169. 


Influence  of  Medical  Missions  63 

woman  to  Christian  benevolence.  Rev.  Sidney  Gulick,  in 
his  very  thoughtful  and  suggestive  book,  “ The  Growth 
of  the  Kingdom  of  God/’  writes : “ So  sweet  and  reasona- 
ble have  these  institutions  and  methods  and  principles 
been  seen  to  be  that  all  men  praise  and  approve  them.  So 
important  are  many  of  them  for  the  welfare  of  the  com- 
munity, that  even  governments  do  not  hesitate  to  contrib- 
ute public  money  for  their  establishment  and  support.  Not 
only  the  governments  of  Christian  lands,  but  those  of 
non-Christian  lands,  have  quickly  caught  the  spirit  and 
are  following  the  examples  set  them. 

“ Yet  it  still  holds  true  that  the  great  majority  of  those 
who  give  either  their  means,  or  especially  themselves,  to 
benevolent  work  among  the  poor  and  the  wretched,  the 
vile  and  the  wicked,  who  established  not  only  free  hospi- 
tals for  the  sick,  but  rescue  homes  for  the  fallen,  who  la- 
bor not  only  for  temporal  and  physical  comfort,  but  also 
for  the  mental,  moral  and  social  improvement  and  welfare 
af  the  lower  and  vicious  classes  of  society,  are  earnest 
Christian  men  and  women.  Yet  the  wide  sympathy  and 
financial  help  in  its  support  that  this  form  of  the  Chris- 
tian’s work  and  ideal  find  among  non-Christians  show 
now  pervasive  is  the  influence  of  Jesus,  how  far  it  has 
spread  beyond  the  limit  of  those  who  profess  to  be  His 
Tsciples.” 


PREPARATION  OF  THE  MEDICAL 
MISSIONARY 


“ It  takes  a soul 

To  move  a body  ; it  takes  a high-souled  man 
To  move  the  masses  even  to  a cleaner  stye  ; 

It  takes  the  ideal  to  blow  an  inch  inside 
The  dust  of  the  actual.” 

“ I spoke  as  I saw, 

I report  as  a man  may  of  God’s  work — 

All’s  love,  yet  all’s  law. 

Now  I lay  down  the  judgeship  He  lent  me, 

Each  1 acuity  tasked  ; 

To  perceive  Him  has  gained  an  abyss 
Where  a dewdrop  was  asked.” 

— Role.  Browning. 


Life  may  be  spent  or  invested  : may  be  seed  com  or  devoured.” 

” He  speaks  not  well  who  doth  his  time  deplore, 

Naming  it  new  and  little  and  obscure. 

Ignoble  and  unfit  for  lofty  deeds. 

All  times  were  modem  in  the  times  of  them, 

And  this  no  more  than  others. 

Do  thy  part 

Here  in  the  living  day,  as  did  the  great 
Who  made  the  days  immortal  ! ’ ’ 

— Richard  Watson  Gilder, 


V 


PREPARATION  OF  THE  MEDICAL  MISSIONARY 

The  work  of  the  lapidary  is  to  enhance  the  reflecting 
power  of  the  gem,  and  he  is  not  content  with  polishing 
one  side,  but  makes  many  facets  so  that  from  scores  of 
angles  the  light  breaks  and  burns.  The  Great  Lapidary 
has  made  each  precious  stone  in  His  treasury  of  amazing 
beauty  from  whichever  side  it  is  viewed.  The  piercing 
gleam  from  some  facets  near  the  setting  is  only  seen  on 
close  inspection.  The  ministry  of  healing  shines  brightly 
upon  us  as  we  look  at  its  spiritual  service  and  tender  win- 
someness of  compassion.  The  light  is  reflected  from  its 
very  apex  and  almost  every  beam  is  caught  and  sent  back 
to  us  with  its  clear  and  holy  gleam.  But  by  and  by,  as  we 
look  closer,  we  see  that  the  lower  angles  have  a glory  all 
their  own,  though  perhaps  not  quite  so  brilliant  as  the 
apex.  The  educational  influence,  the  stimulation  of  be- 
nevolent enterprises  and  even  sanitary  reforms — these  are 
the  facets  sometimes  almost  hidden,  but  which  reflect  the 
light  all  the  same,  when  placed  in  the  right  point  of  view. 

Every  great  life  which  has  leaped  out  upon  the  world 
has  taken  generations  to  form.  Every  great  national  life 
has  had  back  of  it  huge  reservoirs  of  wise  legislation  and 
public  spiritedness.  It  is  no  mean  claim  to  make  for 
Medical  Missions  that  they  have  been  instrumental  in 
promoting  a healthier — and  therefore  surely  a holier — na- 
tional life  in  the  countries  where  they  have  been  working. 

It  was  said  of  Professor  Owen  that  he  could  construct 
an  entire  skeleton  from  seeing  a single  bone  of  a prehis- 
toric animal.  We  venture  to  think  that  the  estimation  in 
which  a government  holds  the  lives  of  its  people,  as  evi- 
denced by  its  care  for  the  preservation  of  their  health,  pre- 
vention of  disease  and  precautions  against  devastations  by 
epidemics,  might  almost  be  taken  as  a rough  gauge  of  the 

67 


68 


The  Healing  of  the  Nations 


position  they  hold  in  the  world  of  Christian  Sociology, 
and  from  these  facts  might  be  built  up  a skeleton  of  its 
national  well-being. 

The  field  of  influence  is  immense. 
The  nedicai  missionary  The  countries  in  which  medical  mis- 
> Sanitary  Reformer,  sionaries  are  working  are,  almost  with- 
out exception,  devoid  of  proper  sanita- 
tion or  the  desire  to  enforce  precautionary  methods  when 
threatened  by  wholesale  death  through  epidemic  illnesses. 

A physician  who  has  spent  over  twenty  years  in  China 
says : “ Their  cities  and  towns  are  unspeakably  filthy, 
many  of  their  busy  thoroughfares  being  but  elongated 
cesspools.  Every  householder  is  at  liberty  to  throw  any 
kind  of  abominable  refuse  into  the  public  street  before 
his  own  door,  and  sanitary  laws,  if  they  exist,  are  neither 
understood  nor  enforced.  The  dwellings  of  the  poor  are 
minus  everything  that  makes  for  comfort  or  conduces  to 
health,  and  in  times  of  sickness  the  condition  of  the  suf- 
ferers, especially  if  they  have  the  misfortune  to  be  women, 
is  extremely  deplorable.”  “ The  nasal  organs  of  the  Chi- 
nese seem  to  be  deficient  in  sensitiveness,  and  they  en- 
dure with  apparent  impunity  stenches  that  would  make  a 
European  ill.  Many  of  their  rooms  are  dark  and  damp. 
The  sewers  in  the  cities  are  frequently  foul,  and  often 
through  superstitious  notions  are  so  constructed  that  the 
sewage  collects  in  them  instead  of  flowing  off.  Most  of 
the  villages  in  South  China  have  pools  into  which  all  ref- 
use matter  is  cast.” 

* “ China  is  notorious  for  the  entire  neglect  of  proper 
sanitation.  There  is  even  a lively  rivalry  among  its  most 
important  cities  as  to  which  deserves  the  prize  for  sur- 
passing filthiness.  Peking,  the  capital,  seems  to  be  by  no 
means  an  unworthy  candidate  for  the  highest  laurels  in 
the  contest,  and  has  even  been  pronounced  by  competent 
judges  as  the  dirtiest  city  on  the  face  of  the  globe.  ‘Above 
all  characteristics  of  Peking,’  says  Mr.  Norman,  ‘ one 
thing  stands  out  in  horrible  prominence.  Not  to  mention 
it  would  be  wilfully  to  omit  the  most  striking  feature  of 
the  place.  I mean  its  filth.  It  is  the  most  horribly  and 


* Christian  Missions  and  Social  Progress,  Dr,  Jas.  S,  DeanU.  Vol.  I.,  p.  22a. 


Preparation  of  the  Medical  Missionary  69 

indescribably  filthy  place  that  can  be  imagined ; indeed, 
imagination  must  fall  far  short  of  the  fact.’  ” 

*Dr.  Theodore  Duka,  an  Indian  army  surgeon,  says : 
“ It  is  almost  needless  to  enter  upon  a description  of  the 
sanitation  of  an  Indian  village,  for  there  is  a total  absence 
of  it.  The  huts  composing  the  villages  and  hamlets  are 
erected  for  the  most  part  on  flat  land  or  on  slightly  ele- 
vated ground,  exposed  to  the  scorching  sun  and  fiery 
winds,  or  drenched  by  rain.  The  people  drink  from  the 
pond  in  which  they  bathe  and  in  which  their  cattle  wal- 
low, surrounded  by  the  refuse  of  their  daily  lives.  The 
cattle  consist  of  cows  and  buffaloes,  occasionally  of  goats, 
donkeys  and  pigs.  All  live  under  the  same  roof  and  lie 
upon  the  ground  beside  their  master  and  his  family. 
There  is  hardly  a window  or  an  opening  for  ventilation.” 
Moslem  lands  are  equally  wanting  in  common  sanitary 
knowledge.  The  annual  pilgrimage  to  Mecca  by  thou- 
sands of  Muhammedans  is  a menace  to  the  whole  world’s 
health.  It  has  been  stated  that  every  cholera  visitation  in 
any  land  during  recent  years  has  been  plainly  traceable  to 
Mecca  as  its  source.  The  crowding  of  the  pilgrims,  the 
water  used  for  drinking,  and  every  other  condition  seems 
to  present  an  almost  perfect  combination  for  spreading 
contagion.  The  superstitious  fears  which  are  entertained 
in  these  lands  of  anything  like  scientific  investigation  for 
the  purpose  of  public  health  is  well  illustrated  by  a quo- 
tation from  t The  Lancet:  “ The  French  Statistical  De- 
partment, anxious  to  obtain  definite  information  on  certain 
matters  from  Turkish  provinces,  sent  lists  of  questions 
to  which  they  requested  replies,  to  the  various  provincial 
Pashas.  Certain  of  the  questions  were  addressed  to  the 
Pasha  of  Damascus,  and  his  replies  ran  as  follows : 

“ Question : What  is  the  death  rate  per  thousand  in 
your  principal  city? 

“ Answer : In  Damascus  it  is  the  will  of  Allah  that  all 
must  die ; some  died  old,  some  young. 

“ Question  : What  is  the  annual  number  of  births? 
“Answer : We  don’t  know ; only  God  alone  can  say. 


* Quoted  from  Christian  Missions  and  Social  Progress,  Dr.  Jas,  S.  Dennis.  Vol, 
I.,  p.  219,  220. 
t July  16,  1898. 


7 o The  Healing  of  the  Nations 

“ Question : Are  the  supplies  of  drinking  water  suffi- 
cient and  of  good  quality  ? 

“Answer:  From  the  remotest  period  no  one  has  ever 
died  of  thirst. 

“ Question : General  remarks  on  the  hygienic  condi- 
tions of  your  city. 

“Answer : Since  Allah  sent  us  Muhammed,  His 
prophet,  to  purge  the  world  with  fire  and  sword,  there  has 
been  a vast  improvement.  But  there  still  remains  much 
to  do.  Everywhere  is  opportunity  to  help  and  to  reform. 
And  now,  my  lamb  of  the  West,  cease  your  questioning, 
which  can  do  no  good  either  to  you  or  to  any  one  else. 
Man  should  not  bother  himself  about  matters  which  con- 
cern only  God.  Salem  Aleikum ! ” 

The  medical  missionary  stands  in  a position  of  pecu- 
liar importance  toward  these  things.  He  possesses  the 
requisite  professional  knowledge,  and,  moreover,  what  is 
equally  important,  he  has  the  confidence  of  the  people.  Who 
can  help  so  well  or  with  such  authority  as  the  physician 
who  is  already  held  in  high  esteem  for  his  work’s  sake? 
The  single  act  of  vaccination  has  been  the  means  of  pre- 
serving thousands  of  lives.  In  Korea  it  is  estimated  by 
the  native  faculty  that  about  50  per  cent,  of  the  deaths  are 
caused  by  smallpox.  The  doctors  at  a single  mission 
hospital  in  China  are  stated  to  have  vaccinated  25,000  pa- 
tients in  one  year.* 

In  many  parts  of  the  East  where  a desert  touches  a 
piece  of  fertile  ground,  the  sand  is  constantly  drifting 
and  making  barren  much  soil  which  is  capable  of  produc- 
tiveness. Sometimes  for  a little  while  there  is  promise 
of  fertility  and  then  again  comes  the  sand-drift,  choking 
up  life.  But  if  there  be  some  outjutting  rock  which  will 
arrest  the  sand,  then  at  last  on  the  lee  side  of  the  rock 
there  is  a chance  of  some  seed  bringing  forth  a harvest  of 
a hundred  fold.  The  epidemics  of  disease  in  these  lands 
are  much  like  the  sand  blasts.  They  sweep  across  a land, 
stifling  the  life  of  helpless  thousands  and  creating  a sense 
of  panic  and  fatalistic  superstition.  The  missionary  phy- 

* The  remarkable  success  of  vaccination  in  these  countries,  where  in  the  majority  of 
cases  the  insanitary  conditions  remain  as  before,  is  surely  a striking  commentary  on  the 
statement  made  by  the  opponents  of  vaccination  that  the  reduced  mortality  from  small- 
pox is  due  to  merely  improved  sanitation. 


Preparation  of  the  Medical  Missionary  7 1 

sician  has  been  able  again  and  again  to  arrest,  in  at  least 
some  measure,  this  drift  and  to  stand  “ as  an  hiding  place 
from  the  wind  and  a covert  from  the  tempest,  ...  as 
the  shadow  of  a great  rock  in  a weary  land.”  He  has  been 
able  to  instil  confidence  in  place  of  fear  and  to  secure  the 
adoption  of  suitable  measures  for  meeting  the  epidemic 
and  preventing  its  spread. 

The  comparative  immunity  of  native  Christians  against 
such  diseases  as  compared  with  other  natives,  was  spe- 
cially noted  in  connection  with  the  plague  in  India  in  1898. 
Careful,  regular,  cleanly  and  right  living  demonstrated  its 
influence  over  health  in  a most  noticeable  manner. 

The  consideration  of  the  high  death  rates  in  Oriental 
cities  furnishes  food  for  reflection.  The  annual  mortality 
of  infants  and  of  women  in  labor  is  a call  pathetic  enough 
to  stir  our  hearts  as  well  as  our  brains.  “ Even  in  the  City 
of  Calcutta  the  infant  death  rate  under  one  year  of  age  in 
1894  was  402  per  1000  and  in  1893  it  was  415.”  (Chris- 
tian Missions  and  Social  Progress.  Dr.  Jas.  S.  Dennis. 
Vol.  I.,  page  220.)  The  death  rate  of  infants  under  one 
year  of  age  in  the  United  States  in  census  year  ending 
May  31,  1890,  was  225.9  Per  1000  of  total  deaths,  or  al- 
most half  the  proportion  obtaining  in  Calcutta. 

“ The  mortality  of  London  has  been  reduced  to  about 
20  per  1000  per  annum.  The  mortality  of  most  Oriental 
cities  is  over  45  per  1000,  or  more  than  double  that  of 
London.”  * 

Considering  the  vastly  reduced  mortality  to-day  of  sur- 
gical operations  and  the  safe  character  of  ordinary  obstet- 
ric procedures  it  is  probable  that  modern  medical  science 
under  favorable  conditions  could  remove  or  prevent  more 
than  half  of  the  disease  and  pain  suffered  by  peoples  of  mis- 
sion lands.  As  they  number  more  than  half  the  popula- 
tion of  the  world,  it  will  be  seen  what  an  immense  burden 
of  the  world’s  physical  woe  might  thus  be  lifted ! Oh ! 
for  more  men  and  women  to  stand  and  break  the  great 
drifts  of  sickness  which  blow  from  the  deserts  of  disease ; 
for  men  and  women  who  will  be  a shadow  of  a 
great  rock  to  their  brothers  and  sisters  in  a weary  land, 


* Medical  Missions  at  Home  and  Abroad.  March,  1892.  Page  86.  See  also  Situ 
dent  Volunteer,  Nov.,  1895,  p.  28,  for  interesting  statistics. 


72 


The  Healing  of  the  Nations 


who  are  scorched  with  the  burning  heat  of  fever  and 
tossed  by  the  tempests  of  pain ! 

The  law  of  the  Kingdom  is  that  to  whom 
Preparation  of  the  much  has  been  given,  of  him  shall  much 
Profession.  be  required.  Noblesse  oblige  is  true  of 
princes  in  knowledge  as  well  as  princes  in 
rank.  To-day  the  responsibility  of  the  profession  is 
greater  than  on  the  day  when  organized  foreign  missionary 
enterprise  had  its  beginning.  The  past  century  has 
wrought  wonders  in  Medicine  as  well  as  in  every  other 
branch  of  science. 

In  every  age  the  instincts  of  brotherly  love  toward  the 
sick  made  demands  which  could  not  be  denied  by  the  fol- 
lowers of  the  God  of  Love.  There  was  a challenge  as 
well  as  a gibe  enshrined  in  Lucian’s  famous  words  con- 
cerning Christians.  “ Their  Master,”  said  he,  “ has  per- 
suaded them  that  they  are  all  brothers.”  This  fraternal 
feeling  was  naturally  manifested  in  an  especial  degree  to- 
ward those  who  were  sick  and  suffering,  though  the  means 
and  requisite  knowledge  possessed  at  that  early  date  were 
but  scanty  for  the  alleviation  of  any  but  the  simplest  mal- 
adies. 

Christian  physicians  of  this  age  have  vastly  greater 
powers  for  demonstrating  their  brotherliness  in  this  direc- 
tion than  had  their  predecessors.  To  the  ignorant  and 
superstitious  the  achievements  of  hospital  surgery  seem 
little  short  of  miraculous.  Without  question  they  per- 
form a somewhat  similar  function  to  that  of  the  miracles 
wrought  by  Christ  in  the  early  days  of  Christianity.  They 
call  attention  and  by  their  very  nature  make  the  recipients 
inclined  to  listen  to  the  teaching  with  which  they  are  ac- 
companied. 

“ They  soon  learn  that  a religion  of  which  such  work 
is  the  fruits  cannot  be  altogether  bad ; that  a religion  that 
the  foreign  physician  believes  and  that  prompts  him  to 
work  among  them  under  such  disagreeable  conditions, 
and  do  for  them  things  that  their  relatives  are  seldom  will- 
ing to  do,  must  have  some  reason  in  it.  In  short,  they 
hear  the  Gospel  more  regularly,  and  in  a state  of  mind 
produced  by  leisure,  by  freshness  and  by  the  spirit  of  the 


Preparation  of  the  Medical  Missionary 


73 


place,  better  calculated  to  produce  deep  and  lasting  im- 
pressions than  is  usually  the  case  at  the  church.” 

A hundred  years  ago  Medical  Missions  to  the  heathen 
might  have  been  organized.  Great  good  would  assuredly 
have  resulted.  But  it  would  have  been  comparatively  diffi- 
cult in  many  lands  to  have  demonstrated  the  superiority  of 
Western  Medicine  over  many  of  the  methods  in  use  among 
these  peoples.  Of  course  there  would  have  been  supe- 
riority observable  and  distinctly  so ; but  not  of  the  spectac- 
ular nature  which  to-day  is  easy  and  which  is  such  a 
power  in  breaking  down  prejudices  and  winning  confi- 
dence. However  superficially  the  history  of  Christianity 
be  reviewed  the  impression  is  left  vividly  upon  thought 
that  for  every  great  onward  movement  there  has  been  a 
singular  preparation  of  the  world  and  of  the  agents 
through  whom  the  world  was  to  be  impressed.  The  po- 
litical conditions  of  the  world’s  great  powers  at  the  ad- 
vent of  Christianity  was  a remarkable  illustration  of  this. 
The  preparation  in  this  present  century  for  world-wide 
missions  is  seen  in  the  drawing  together  of  all  parts  of  the 
globe  through  rapid  transit,  railroad  and  steamship, 
telegraphy  and  postal  systems,  and  the  speedy  propaga- 
tion of  thought  by  enormous  hourly  outputs  from  the 
printing  press.  Associate  these  material  things  with  the 
revival  of  interest  in  foreign  missions,  exemplified  by  the 
concerts  of  prayer,  foundation  of  missionary  societies,  ris- 
ing interest  among  young  people  and  the  dedication  of 
thousands  of  students  and  others  to  the  cause  of  foreign 
missions,  and  it  will  be  seen  how  the  two  forms  of  prep- 
aration meet  at  a focal  point  where  they  become  capable 
of  working  in  harmony  for  a great  and  widespread  move- 
ment for  the  progress  of  the  Kingdom  of  our  Lord. 

Just  such  a duplex  preparation  is  seen  in  the  world 
to-day  for  the  wide  establishment  of  Medical  Missions  in 
heathen  lands. 

A very  brief  survey  will  enable  us  to  compre- 
Technicai  hend  the  wonderful  technical  armament 
Preparation.  which  has  become  the  property  of  the  medical 

profession  during  this  century  of  missions. 

We  have  already  alluded  to  one  discovery  which  has 
so  illumined  the  century — the  discovery  of  the  protection 


74 


The  Healing  of  the  Nations 


afforded  against  smallpox  by  vaccination.  In  our  judgment, 
that  one  item  of  knowledge  would  be  an  almost  price- 
less gift  to  bestow  upon  the  rest  of  mankind.  While  it  is  to 
Jenner  that  we  are  indebted  for  this  discovery  it  was  many 
years  before  the  scientific  principles  upon  which  its  pro- 
tection was  based  were  clearly  defined.  Pasteur’s  splen- 
did work  on  low  forms  of  vegetable  life  not  only  put  vac- 
cination on  a sure  footing,  but  gave  enormous  impulse 
to  an  entirely  new  and  very  important  department  of 
science,  which  has  shed  light  on  scores  of  morbid  proc- 
esses, previously  little  understood.  It  was  a stride  of  in- 
calculable importance  which  was  made  when  it  was  dis- 
covered that  a large  number  of  acute  diseases  were  due  to 
the  presence  in  the  body  of  some  minute  parasitic  vege- 
tation— germs  or  micro-organisms.  This  was  but  the 
beginning  of  still  greater  triumphs  in  the  science  of  Bacte- 
riology, or  the  study  of  these  microscopic  organisms. 

The  great  complementary  discovery  to  the  above  fact 
was  made  when  it  was  found  that  many  of  these  very  viru- 
lent organisms  manufactured  a material  which  at  last  be- 
came inimical  to  their  own  existence.  Not  only  has  it 
thus  been  possible  to  identify  the  actual  morbific  agent  of 
a disease,  but  also  to  single  out  and  apply  the  remedial 
product  in  the  form  of  “ anti-toxins.”* 

To  give  but  one  example  (and  that  perhaps  the  most 
striking)  of  the  reduction  of  deaths  through  this  new 
method  of  treatment,  we  would  instance  the  use  of  the 
diphtheria  anti-toxin.  This  has  only  been  before  the  pro- 
fession as  a whole  since  the  fall  of  1894.  The  reduction 
of  mortality  through  its  use  has  been  one  of  the  modern 
triumphs  of  therapeutics.  In  some  hospitals  the  number 
of  deaths  occurring  has  been  considerably  less  than  one- 
third  the  mortality  previous  to  its  use.  That  is  to  say, 
that  out  of  every  100  persons  who  formerly  would  have 
died,  sixty-six  lives  are  now  saved.!  Research  along  sim- 
ilar lines  has  yielded  results  of  varying  degrees  of  value 
in  the  treatment  of  cholera,  bubonic  plague,  hydrophobia, 

* Thi9  is  an  exceedingly  rough  and  popular  statement  of  the  facts,  and  is  not  scien- 
tifically precisely  the  case  in  many  instances. 

t Medical  readers  maybe  referred  to  very  interesting  and  instructive  articles  in  An- 
nual of  Gynaec.  and  Pediat.,  No.  7,  1897,  by  F.  L.  Morse,  and  Brit.  Med.  Journal, 
Jan.  a8,  1899,  P-  »97- 


Preparation  of  the  Medical  Missionary  75 

and  tuberculosis.  It  is  even  claimed  already  that  it  has 
yielded  light  on  the  origin  of  cancer,  though  this  latter 
claim  has  by  no  means  been  established  as  a scientific  fact.* 

But  perhaps  the  greatest  contribution  that  Bacteriology 
has  made  to  the  realm  of  practical  Medicine  has  been  its 
surgical  aspect.  The  work  of  Pasteur,  Tyndall  and  Lister 
is  now  almost  classical  and  finds  its  popular  expression  in 
the  term  “ listerism.”  These  scientists  each  contributed 
to  the  others’  work,  which  led  Lister  at  last  to  the  dis- 
covery that  the  inflammation  of  surgical  wounds  was  due 
to  the  fermentative  processes  of  these  minute  organisms. 
That  discovery  made,  it  was  but  a step  to  the  finding  that 
certain  chemical  solutions  were  poisonous  to  these  germ- 
bodies.  Lister  found  that  by  using  solutions  of  certain 
germicidal  chemicals  the  putrefactive  changes  could 
be  controlled  or  abolished.  Such  a discovery  has  done 
nothing  less  than  revolutionize  the  whole  of  surgical  pro- 
cedure. Lord  Lister,  it  has  been  stated,  has  probably,  by 
means  of  this  discovery,  saved  more  lives  and  mitigated 
more  suffering  than  any  man  living  in  this  or  any  past 
generation.  This  seems  excessive  tribute,  and  yet  when 
one  compares  the  frightful  death  rate  in  the  past  in  se- 
rious operations  with  that  of  the  present  day,  one  realizes 
it  is  probably  the  statement  of  an  actual  fact.t  The  enun- 
ciation of  antiseptic  and  aseptic  principles  has  not  only 
widened  our  scope,  but  has  permitted  the  entrance  into 
surgical  fields  unthought  of  in  our  fathers’  time. 

The  safety  and  brilliancy  of  cranial  and  abdominal 
operations  lies  as  a heavy  hand  of  responsibility  upon  us 
to  devote  our  securer  knowledge  and  safer  manipulative 
skill  to  this  supremest  and  noblest  service  of  God  among 
those  to  whom  we  can  be  an  agent  of  physical  salvation 
and  a messenger  of  spiritual  hope.  Many  injuries  no 
longer  form  a noli  me  tangere  to  the  surgeon  which  before 
were  cause  of  intense  anxiety  as  to  whether  he  was  justi- 
fied in  attempting  surgical  alleviation.  But  even  this 
priceless  boon  could  not  have  been  fully  appropriated,  if 

* See  Practitioner.,  April,  1899,  for  latest  views  of  American  and  British  authorities 

t “ Eighty  per  cent,  of  all  wounds  treated  ” in  Nussbaum’s  clinic  in  Munich  “ were 
attacked  by  hospital  gangrene.  Erysipelas  was  the  order  of  the  day  to  such  an  extent 
that  its  occurrence  could  almost  have  been  looked  upon  as  the  normal  course,” 
(Deutsche  Zeitschrift  flir  Chirurgie.  1877.) 


;6 


The  Healing  of  the  Nations 


there  had  not  also  come  to  mankind  the  discovery  of  an- 
aesthetics in  this  century.  We  hardly  know  which  is  the 
greater  gift;  their  benefits  seem  to  interact  one  upon  the 
other,  and  each  of  these  twin  discoveries  is  indispensable 
to  modern  surgery.  Yet  perhaps  the  palm  is  to  be  ac- 
corded to  the  sister  of  sleep.  It  is  now  easy  for  the  sur- 
geon to  conduct  his  investigation  into  regions  which 
would  have  been  impossible  but  for  the  benign  influence 
of  the  “ deep  and  painless  slumber  ” induced  by  chloro- 
form or  ether.  And  we  would  give  the  palm  the  more 
readily  to  the  discovery  of  anaesthetics  when  we  grate- 
fully remember  its  special  service  to  motherhood  in  the 
“ hour  of  trial.” 

The  use  of  chloroform  is  always  a wonder  in  a Med- 
ical Mission  hospital.  The  performance  of  painful  pro- 
cedures without  the  patient  feeling  anything,  is  a new  to- 
ken to  a Chinaman  of  the  wonderful  power  of  the  foreign 
doctor. 

This  century  has  been  rich  in  its  inventiveness,  which 
has  made  the  discovery  and  investigation  of  disease  far 
more  definite  and  exact.  The  stethoscope  has  been  a 
sixth  sense  to  the  physician  in  his  knowledge  of  chest  and 
heart  diseases,  and  even  now  its  capabilities  are  annually 
being  enlarged  and  improved  upon.  The  ophthalmoscope 
is  to  the  surgeon  what  the  photographic  plate  is  to  the 
astronomer — a piercing  eye  which  can  see  further  and  find 
more  than  could  unaided  vision.  The  laryngoscope  and 
clinical  thermometer  are  other  outstanding  products  of 
scientific  Medicine. 

The  discovery  of  oxygen  at  the  close  of  the  eighteenth 
century  and  the  demonstration  of  its  relation  to  the  blood, 
the  manufacture  of  quinine,  strychnine,  iodides,  bromides, 
and  a score  of  other  “ ines  ” and  “ ides  have  all  been  of 
the  past  one  hundred  years. 

The  work  of  Buffon,  Cuvier,  Hunter,  Owen  and  Dar- 
win in  natural  history  has  laid  a sure  foundation  for  bio- 
logical data  and  the  principles  deducible  from  them.  The 
first  sanitary  commissions  were  instituted  in  1838  and 
1844,  and  from  those  commissions  went  out  impulses  for 
betterment  of  the  public  health  of  the  people  which  have 
been  felt  in  nearly  every  civilized  land. 

“ Nursing,  from  time  immemorial,  the  tending  of 


Preparation  of  the  Medical  Missionary  77 

the  sick  as  a work  of  pure  charity,  has  been  carried  on  by 
religious  communities.  It  is  within  our  own  times  that 
the  science  and  art  of  nursing  have  risen  to  their  high 
standard,  combining  the  highest  motives  with  the  highest 
efficiency,  thanks  to  the  completeness  and  the  discipline  of 
hospital  training  and  to  the  advanced  teaching  of  the  phy- 
sician and  surgeon.  To  Miss  Florence  Nightingale's  no- 
ble service  is  this  specially  due.” 

The  treatment  of  the  insane  has  been  humanized  since 
Pinel  began  his  investigations  in  France.  It  was  strange 
how  long  even  in  Christian  lands  the  superstitions  re- 
mained as  to  those  mentally  afflicted  being  possessed  by 
evil  spirits,  or  at  least  being  “ uncanny  ” and  to  be  dreaded 
and  treated  with  cruelty.  Even  physicians  publicly  advo- 
cated such  treatment.  Happily  a party  possessing  such 
opinions  no  longer  exists  among  the  members  of  the  pro- 
fession to-day,  and  we  can  ask  with  Hans  Breitmann, 
“ Vhere  ish  dot  barty  now  ? ” without  fear  of  its  discov- 
ery in  any  corner  of  our  land. 

We  have  enumerated  but  a very  few  of  the  advances 
of  Medicine  in  this  century.  It  would  have  been  a pleas- 
ant task  to  review  it  with  some  fullness,  believing  as  we 
do  that  we  are  but  recording  events  which  conspire  to- 
gether in  making  this  era  the  most  favorable  ever  known 
for  the  prosecution  of  Medical  Missions.  This,  then,  is 
our  heritage  to-day!  What  are  we  doing  with  it?  We 
are  to-day  as  men  holding  ten  talents  of  latent  power,  and 
God  does  not  expect  from  us  the  smaller  services  of  two- 
talent  men.  Whether  we  stay  at  home  or  abroad,  we  are 
weighted  with  responsibility  to  invest  all  for  the  glory  of 
God,  Who  bestowed  them. 

Never  before  in  the  history  of  Medicine  has  the  Chris- 
tian physician  had  at  his  command  such  immense  re- 
sources. Are  the  benefits  of  these  resources  to  be  con- 
fined to  about  one  hundred  million  people  of  America  and 
Europe?  Are  the  sufferings  of  two-thirds  of  the  world’s 
population  to  go  untended  ? Is  maternity  to  be  a dreaded 
nightmare  to  our  sisters  in  India  and  China,  Persia  and 
Africa,  when  the  women  of  our  own  lands  are  tended  with 
care  and  considerateness?  Are  thousands  to  lose  their 
sight  each  year  because  there  are  no  surgeons  at  hand  to 
couch  cataracts  ? 


78 


The  Healing  of  the  Nations 


The  answer  to  all  this  is  far  deeper  than  the  mere 
claims  made  upon  us  because  of  the  wonderful  prepared- 
ness of  the  profession.  Once  more  we  may  say  that  the 
answer  spells  itself  out  in  love  to  God.  When  the  fire 
from  off  the  altar  of  love  touches  our  lips,  shall  we  not  be 
constrained  to  cry,  “ Here  am  I ; send  me  ” ? 

The  preparation  of  the  profession  is 
spiritual  Preparation  ot  not  technical  alone;  it  is  spiritual, 
the  Profession.  For  many  generations  there  have  been 

men  who  illumined  the  profession 
not  by  their  medical  work  alone,  but  because  they  stood 
enrolled  as  humble  followers  of  Jesus  Christ.  The  names 
of  Haller  and  Boerhaave,  Cheselden  and  Pare,  Sydenham 
and  Abercrombie , and  in  later  days,  Simpson,  the  discov- 
erer of  chloroform ; Sir  Andrew  Clark,  “ the  prince  of 
physicians  and  one  of  the  noblest  of  men,”  and  a host  of 
others,  will  be  remembered  for  their  deep  personal  faith 
as  well  as  their  scientific  attainments.*  To-day,  however, 
this  spiritual  phalanx  is  vaster  and  stands  more  compact 
in  the  army  of  medical  practitioners  than  ever  before. 

A man  of  great  experience  and  keen  insight  told  the 
author  that  it  was  hard,  forty  years  ago,  to  find  Chris- 
tian doctors  in  England ; now  they  are  numerous.  The 
spiritual  awakening  among  medical  students  is  even  more 
remarkable.  Thousands  are  to-day  enrolled  in  Christian 
associations  in  medical  colleges  in  North  America  and 
Europe.  This  has  practically  been  entirely  the  growth 
of  the  past  fifteen  years.  The  medical  students  who  have 
decided  to  become  foreign  missionaries  during  the  past 
eight  years  may  be  counted  by  hundreds. 

What  does  this  preparation,  both  technical  and  spirit- 
ual, mean  ? Does  it  not  mean  that  the  Spirit  of  God  would 
lead  forth  a band  of  men  and  women  who  have  studied  in 
the  schools  of  Western  Medicine,  into  a fuller,  larger,  ho- 
lier and  nobler  service,  in  lands  whose  need  sorely  cries 
out  for  helpers  and  healers,  and  whose  spiritual  darkness 
requires  the  rising  of  the  Sun  of  Righteousness  if  the 
black  clouds  of  ignorance,  superstition,  cruelty  and  sin 
are  to  be  rolled  back  and  a fairer  day  is  to  dawn? 

* We  have  purposely  omitted  names  of  any  living  physicians.  It  would  be  easy  to 
compile  a very  long  list  of  such. 


M APPEAL 


“ I cared  not  where  or  how  I lived,  or  what  hardships  I went  through, 
so  that  I could  but  gain  souls  to  Christ.  While  I was  asleep  I dreamed 
of  these  things,  and  when  I waked  the  first  thing  I thought  of  was  this 
great  work.  I longed  to  be  a flame  of  fire,  continually  glowing  in  the 
service  of  God  and  building  up  Christ’s  Kingdom  to  my  latest,  my  dying 
mcxuents.” 

— David  Brainerd. 

“ To  the  spirit  select  there  is  no  choice. 

' He  cannot  say,  This  will  I do  or  that. 


A hand  is  stretched  to  him  from  out  the  dark, 
Which  grasping  without  question,  he  is  led 
Where  there  is  work  that  he  must  do  for  God. 


To  the  tough  hearts  that  pioneer  their  kind 
And  break  a pathway  to  those  unknown  realms 
That  in  the  earth’s  broad  shadow  lie  enthralled, 

Endurance  is  the  crowning  quality. 

And  patience  all  the  passion  of  great  hearts.” 

— James  Russell  Lcrwell. 

“ The  day  is  short,  and  the  task  is  great,  and  the  workmen  are  slug- 
gish, and  the  reward  is  much,  and  the  Master  of  the  House  is  urgent.” 

— Rabbi  Tarphon . 

“ Wanted — men  : 

Not  systems  fit  and  wise, 

Not  faiths  with  rigid  eyes, 

Not  wealth  in  mountain  piles, 

Not  power  with  gracious  smiles, 

Not  even  the  potent  pen  : 

Wanted — MEN.  ” 


SO 


VI 


AN  APPEAL 

The  work  of  the  medical  missionary  is  many- 
The  Day’s  sided.  It  is  not  bisected  into  two  parts  desig- 

Work.  nated  as  spiritual  and  medical.  Like  the 

shield,  it  has  two  sides,  but  it  is  a whole — a 
spiritual  whole.  The  medical  missionary  goes  as  a spir- 
itual agent  to  do  spiritual  work  and  that  motive  domi- 
nates his  task  just  as  truly  when  he  is  amputating  a limb 
as  when  he  is  lending  a hand  to  some  poor  fellow  battling 
and  beaten  with  the  waves  of  sin.  Like  the  water  filling 
the  empty  vase  the  work  takes  on  different  forms  accord- 
ing to  the  delimiting  surroundings. 

It  might  roughly  be  enumerated  as  follows : ( i ) Work 
among  patients  in  hospital,  hospital  employees  and  among 
students  or  nurses.  This  would  include  a simple  service 
every  morning  in  the  wards,  the  loaning  of  books  and 
tracts  and  as  much  personal  conversation  with  patients  as 
possible.  This  is  needed  to  deepen  the  feeling  in  patients 
that  the  doctor  cares  for  their  higher  natures  far  more 
deeply  than  for  their  mere  physical  needs ; that  they  are 
not  “ cases,”  but  brothers  and  sisters  of  himself.  It  is 
needed  also  to  find  out  how  far  his  more  public  exhorta- 
tions are  being  understood  and  to  very  simply  explain  the 
real  meaning  of  these  strange  doctrines  which  are  so  new 
and  often  so  incomprehensible  to  their  minds.  Sometimes 
a special  meeting  is  held  each  week  for  detailed  explanation 
of  the  Bible  and  often  a prayer  meeting  for  the  Christians 
is  a regular  feature  of  a mission  hospital.  This  is  prob- 
ably the  aspect  of  work  which  bears  the  greatest  fruitage ; 
it  is  more  costly  in  time  and  sympathy  and  therefore  is 
more  productive.  In  a very  real  spiritual  sense  it  is 
axiomatic  that  “ whatsoever  a man  soweth,  that  shall  he 
also  reap.” 


8l 


82 


The  Healing  of  the  Nations 


(2)  Service  for  the  out-patients  on  receiving  days. 
As  a rule  the  out-patients  are  gathered  together  into  two 
halls  or  rooms,  one  for  men  and  one  for  women.  A 
Christian  service  of  a very  simple  nature  is  held  previous 
to  each  company  being  seen  by  the  physician.  This  service 
is  usually  conducted  by  the  doctor,  and  is  followed  up  by 
native  evangelists  and  Bible-women.  In  some  missions 
each  patient  is  given  a ticket  with  a number  upon  it  and 
a text  of  Scripture.  The  number  allows  them  to  proceed 
in  the  order  in  which  they  arrived.  This  impartiality  is 
in  itself  a striking  lesson,  as  difference  of  rank  is  thus 
neglected,  and  the  rich  or  high  caste  are  not  permitted  to 
take  precedence  over  the  poor  or  pariah. 

(3)  House-to-house  visitation  is  partly  engaged  in  at 
the  call  of  those  natives  in  need  of  medical  aid.  It  is  also 
done  among  those  who  have  left  the  hospital  after  treat- 
ment. Some  very  valuable  results  have  accrued  from  this 
outside  visiting.  Often  it  has  been  to  some  high  official's 
house,  and  has  afforded  a splendid  opportunity  for  intro- 
ducing the  Gospel  to  those  who  would  be  reached  in  no 
other  way.  The  majority  of  medical  missionaries,  how- 
ever, seem  inclined  to  believe  that  this  outside  work 
should  not  be  cultivated,  as  taking  away  time  from  the 
sphere  of  work  in  the  hospital  which  is  usually  deemed 
most  fruitful.  Occasionally,  however,  it  is  found  emi- 
nently expedient  to  embrace  such  opportunities.  An  im- 
portant addition  to  outside  calls  is  that  often  made  by  the 
presence  of  other  missionary  families  needing  attendance, 
either  in  or  near  the  Medical  Mission. 

(4)  Medical  itinerating.  The  value  of  this  form  of 

effort  varies  greatly  according  to  the  country.  Dr.  Grace 
N.  Kimball,  of  Van,  Turkey,  so  well  known  for  her  brave 
services  at  the  time  of  the  Armenian  massacres,  speaks  of 
this  form  of  effort  as  being  almost  unworthy  of  the  time 
expended : “A  medical  missionary  goes  on  an  itinerating 
trip,  visiting  a large  number  of  villages,  staying  a day  or 
two  in  each,  seeing  all  the  multitude  who  come,  free,  giving 
each  a dose  of  medicine,  preaching  the  Gospel  and  passing 
on.  This  makes  a very  telling  letter  to  the  missionary 
magazine,  yields  a great  and  fascinating  excitement  to  the 
missionary  . . . and  yet  the  price  paid  for  this  has 


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83 


been  a lavish  expenditure  of  physical  strength  on  the 
part  of  the  medical  missionary  and  of  medicines  and  other 
medical  adjutants,  much  of  which  can  legitimately  be 
considered  thrown  away.” 

On  the  other  hand,  there  is  a chorus  of  praise  ac- 
corded by  missionaries  in  other  parts  of  the  world  to  this 
plan,  which  on  the  surface  harmonizes  so  nearly  with 
that  adopted  by  Christ.  Sometimes  the  spectacular  dem- 
onstration of  minor  surgical  procedures  is  enough  to 
stimulate  further  inquiry  into  the  doctrines  preached  and 
to  bring  other  and  more  serious  medical  cases  from  dis- 
tant villages  to  the  hospital.  These  returning  to  their 
own  homes,  become  propagating  centres  of  Christianity. 
It  also  makes  a profound  difference  whether  there  are  na- 
tive workers  in  the  districts  visited  to  follow  up  the  work. 
In  Japan,  such  medical  touring  has  had  to  be  done  in  co- 
operation with  the  local  physicians  and  copies  of  the  pre- 
scriptions given  handed  to  him,  on  account  of  the  legal  re- 
quirements regulating  medical  practice  in  that  Empire. 
Itinerating  is  often  of  value  as  a help  to  little  churches 
distant  and  scattered,  and  cheers  on  the  natives  who  may  be 
working  among  their  countrymen.  It  is  the  means  also 
of  leaving  the  permanent  influence  of  books  and  leaflets 
in  the  hands  of  very  many  who  have  listened  to  the 
preaching  of  the  missionary  physician. 

(5)  In  addition  to  all  the  above,  comes  the  actual  med- 
ical work  of  the  physician.  It  consists  in  seeing  patients, 
prescribing,  operating,  dressing  their  wounds  and  very 
often  dispensing  medicines,  making  and  adapting  appara- 
tus, as  well  as  the  exacting  work  of  recording  cases,  or- 
dering drugs  and  keeping  accounts.  A medical  mission- 
ary may  also  have  on  his  hands  the  training  of  several 
young  men  as  dressers  or  as  qualified  practitioners.  No 
wonder  that  a man  needs  to  be  well  qualified  where  he  has 
to  be  his  own  anaesthetist,  dresser,  clerk,  hospital  archi- 
tect, and  superintendent,  dispenser  and  compounder,  nurse 
and  house  surgeon ! 

Diseases  Many  of  the  diseases  dealt  with  find  their  coun- 
'.Prevalent,  terpart  in  any  large  hospital  at  home,  yet  there 
are  others  which  are  frequent  in  these  lands 
and  are  excessively  rare  among  ourselves. 


84 


The  Healing  of  the  Nations 


A graphic  and  very  representative  picture  of  a physi- 
cian’s daily  ward  visit  is  given  by  Dr.  James  A.  Greig,  of 
Kirin,  Manchuria : “ In  the  early  hours  of  the  morning 
we  pay  our  visit  to  the  wards  to  see  how  our  patients  are 
getting  on.  We  can  accommodate  between  forty  and 
fifty,  and  usually  the  wards  are  nearly  full.  As  I enter 
a ward  the  word  goes  round,  ‘ Ta-fu  lai  la ! Ta-fu  lai  la ! ’ 

‘ The  Doctor  has  come ! The  doctor  has  come ! ’ and 
many  pale  faces  turn  toward  me,  and  anxious  hearts  ea- 
gerly await  my  words  of  advice,  of  cheer  or  of  warning. 
As  each  temperature  chart  is  examined  and  surgical  dress- 
ing changed,  one  realizes  the  enormous  power  we  in  West- 
ern lands  have  received  for  doing  good  and  relieving  suf- 
fering in  the  dark  places  of  the  earth.  How  delightful  to 
watch  the  return  of  health  to  the  frame  wasted  by  disease, 
and  to  see  the  cruel,  fiery  hand  of  ophthalmia  arrested  ere 
the  sunshine  of  life  dies  out  and  the  darkness  of  incurable 
blindness  sets  in.  To  soothe  the  fevered  brow  and  re- 
lieve the  racking  pain  is  at  once  our  privilege  and  reward. 
That  bronzed  and  emaciated  fellow  is  a martyr  to  tubercu- 
lar disease.  One  of  his  limbs  had  to  be  removed  and  sev- 
eral other  operations  had  subsequently  to  be  performed. 
He  has  had  a long  and  trying  time  of  it,  but  now  he  is  be- 
ginning to  mend.  Months  ago  he  would  have  died  in  a 
miserable  dirty  hovel  but  for  the  kindly  help  he  has  re- 
ceived. 

“ The  man  in  the  second  bed  from  the  door  was 
brought  to  us  from  a town  a hundred  miles  away,  suffer- 
ing from  a form  of  cancer.  The  growth  has  been  com- 
pletely excised,  and  the  wound  has  now  healed.  He  has 
had  a severe  struggle  breaking  off  the  opium  habit,  which 
he  had  acquired  while  seeking  relief  from  pain.  He  has 
succeeded  in  stopping  the  use  of  the  drug,  and  is  return- 
ing home  in  a day  or  two.  The  lad  in  yonder  cot  broke 
his  thigh  when  playing  with  some  comrades.  As  he  calm- 
ly slept  under  an  anaesthetic,  we  set  and  comfortably  band- 
aged his  limb  in  a rigid  apparatus,  and  now  it  is  only  a 
matter  of  time,  and  without  deformity  or  lameness  he  will 
be  able  to  romp  and  play  once  more. 

“ These  three  young  men,  with  their  arms  in  slings, 
were  injured  in  the  arsenal.  The  making  of  silver  coins, 


An  Appeal 


85 


which  has  recently  been  instituted,  has  caused  a number  of 
accidents,  as  the  machinery  is  new  and  not  well  under- 
stood. These  men  were  injured  in  this  department. 

“ That  little  boy  was  dreadfully  burnt  about  the  neck 
and  chest  while  making  percussion  caps.  For  some  nights 
we  feared  he  would  not  survive,  but  he  did.  Then  his 
eyes  were  our  chief  anxiety.  He  begged  and  prayed  us  to 
give  him  back  his  sight.  After  many  weeks  one  of  his 
eyes  was  restored,  and  he  is  very  happy  over  it. 

“ The  sallow,  careworn-looking  man  next  the  window 
is,  I fear,  beyond  hope  of  cure.  He  came  to  us  with  very 
advanced  bone  disease,  and  although  he  has  had  two  oper- 
ations under  chloroform,  and  everything  has  been  done 
that  our  skill  could  suggest,  his  chance  is  not  good.  He 
is  an  only  son,  and  his  old  father  bends  over  him  day  by 
day  with  all  his  paternal  tenderness,  but  there  is  little  im- 
provement. But  most  of  our  cases  do  well,  and  it  is  glad 
work.” 

Skin  diseases  are  frequent  and  doubtless  the  uncleanly 
habits  of  the  people  have  a large  place  as  the  causa  caus- 
ans  of  many  of  them.  Eye  troubles  of  all  kinds  abound. 
A fruitful  source  of  disease  of  the  eyelids  in  China  is  the 
custom  of  barbers  turning  them  over  and  “ cleaning  ” 
them.  After  this  process  the  eye  is  found  to  be  inflamed, 
which  being  considered  proof  of  insufficient  cleaning  of 
the  lids,  the  practice  is  persisted  in,  leading  to  serious  and 
often  permanent  injury. 

The  poor  food,  the  use  of  salt  provisions  and  the  gen- 
eral irregularity  in  eating  cause  a great  deal  of  dyspep- 
sia in  certain  countries.  Inflammatory  diseases  are  not 
so  common  with  the  Chinese  as  in  our  own  lands,  and 
their  lymphatic  constitutions  make  them  unexcelled  as 
patients  in  bearing  pain  of  operations.  Leprosy  is  preva- 
lent in  India  and  China ; malarial  fevers,  tumors,  and  epi- 
demic illnesses  are  common  in  the  majority  of  Medical 
Mission  lands. 

Some  of  the  difficulties  encountered  in  the  work 
Difficulties,  are  due  to  ignorance  or  superstition  which  in 
time  will  disappear. 

Impatience  is  not  peculiar  to  these  lands ; every  hospi- 


86 


The  Healing  of  the  Nations 


tal  surgeon  at  home  has  had  sad  experience  in  dealing 
with  it.  But  united  with  ignorance  it  is  perhaps  more  un- 
manageable. As  an  example,  we  might  instance  a case 
that  Dr.  Kenneth  Mackenzie  received  into  his  hospital — a 
man  with  fracture  of  the  thigh-bone.  “ It  had  been  re- 
peatedly explained  to  him  that  he  must  on  no  account  re- 
move the  splint  and  appliances  and  that  time  would  be  re- 
quired to  effect  a complete  cure ; but  at  the  end  of  a week, 
seeing  no  manifest  improvement,  his  friends  removed  the 
bandages  and  splint  and  carried  him  off.” 

The  meddlesomeness  of  patients  and  their  desire  to  ex- 
hibit their  wounds  to  friends  and  relatives  cause  many 
a heart  burning  to  the  surgeon  who  has  just  dressed  the 
wound  with  every  precaution  of  “ surgical  cleanliness.” 
Again  and  again  has  a patient  lost  an  eye  through  subse- 
quent inflammation  from  caring  nothing  for  the  warning 
not  to  touch  the  dressing,  repeated  over  and  over  by  the 
physician. 

Injurious  dietary  is  another  difficulty  even  with  hos- 
pital patients.  In  mission  hospitals  in  China  one  or  more 
friends  of  the  patient  come  to  nurse  him.  It  requires  ex- 
cessive vigilance  on  the  part  of  the  doctor  to  prevent  inju- 
rious food  being  administered  surreptitiously  by  friends. 
A typhoid  case  on  the  high  road  to  recovery  has  been 
hurried  to  a fatal  termination  through  such  mistaken  kind- 
ness of  so-called  friends. 

These  are  but  samples  of  the  thousand  and  one  petty 
troubles  of  a missionary  doctor.  “ What  with  the  strain 
of  grasping  the  essential  details  of  every  case,  and  choos- 
ing the  appropriate  remedy  for  each,  the  cramped  posture 
while  bending  over  and  operating  on  some  surgical  case, 
and  the  necessity  during  all  of  seeing  everything  that  is 
going  on  and  maintaining  order,  it  is  no  wonder  if  one  is 
tempted  to  lose  patience.  What  superhuman  patience 
must  Christ  have  had ! Thronged  by  multitudes  who 
came  only  to  witness  miracles,  worried  about  a thousand 
trifling  ailments,  and  where  not  trifling  or  fanciful,  about 
sickness,  to  a great  extent  the  direct  consequences  of  lust, 
dirt  and  greed,  argued  with  by  sneering  priests  and  un- 
derstood by  none.  We  speak  of  following  Him ; we  speak 


An  Appeal  87 

of  Christlike  work ; but,  oh ! how  different  is  the  spirit  and 
power  of  its  performance.”* 

Still  deeper  difficulties  are  the  malicious  reports  which 
may  be  placarded  about  and  which  have  to  be  lived  down ; 
and  the  indifference  of  patients  to  the  spiritual  side  of  the 
work — coming  for  what  they  can  get  of  physical  benefit, 
but  caring  nothing  for  the  call  of  the  Great  Shepherd  of 
Souls  to  return  home  to  the  Father’s  house. 

“ Into  a desolate  land 

White  with  the  driven  snow, 

Into  a weary  land 

(Their)  truant  footsteps  go. 

Yet  doth  Thy  care,  O Father, 

Even  Thy  wanderers  keep  ; 

Still  doth  Thy  love,  O Shepherd, 

Follow  Thy  sheep.” 

How  the  chilling  apathy  of  patients  must  oppress  the 
physician ! The  enormous  inertia  to  be  overcome,  even 
by  such  favorable  means  as  Medicine,  must  sometimes  al- 
most crowd  optimism  out  of  the  field  ; and  hope,  and  even 
faith,  are  beleaguered  on  every  side  by  the  crushing 
weight  of  difficulty.  But  the  sun  shines  again  and  grati- 
tude and  humble  following  of  Jesus  Christ  is  the  glorious 
result  in  the  lives  of  many  others;  and  that  is  reward 
enough. 

The  author  is  quite  unable  to  pronounce  on 
Qualifications  the  qualifications  necessary  for  such  work  as 

Needed.  the  foregoing  pages  indicate.  The  remarks 
following  are  almost  wholly  drawn  from  those 
who  are  able  to  speak  with  authority. t 

1.  There  can  be  no  question  that  the  foremost  qualifi- 
cation needed  for  a medical  missionary  is  that  he  should 
be  a sincere  and  earnest  follower  of  Jesus  Christ.  It 
would  seem  superfluous  to  write  this  down.  Yet  from  the 
author’s  personal  knowledge  it  is  a most  needed  statement. 
Not  once  or  twice,  but  many  times,  have  medical  students 
spoken  to  us  about  becoming  medical  missionaries  when 

* Dr.  Arthur  Neve  in  Medical  Missions  at  Home  and  Abroad.  March,  1889 
Page  265. 

t This  section  is  largely  adapted  from  Chap.  10  of  u The  Medical  Mission.**  Dr.  W. 
J.  Wanless.  1898. 


88 


The  Healing  of  the  Nations 


the)'  freely  acknowledged  that  they  were  not  followers  of 
Jesus  Christ.  We  would  bid  God-speed  to  every  man  or 
woman  who  will  help  to  heal  the  world’s  heart  disease 
from  whatever  motive.  We  rejoice  in  every  humanita- 
rian and  humane  effort  for  the  alleviation  of  suffering, 
and  we  wish  that  such  efforts  might  be  extended  and  aug- 
mented in  these  needy  lands ; but  we  would  nevertheless 
remind  ourselves  of  the  difference  between  such  works  of 
philanthropy  and  the  work  of  healing  the  sick  in  the  name 
and  for  the  sake  of  the  Lord  Jesus  and  with  the  clearly  de- 
fined purpose  of  letting  the  work  of  healing  be  subordinate 
and  introductory  to  preaching  the  Good  Tidings  of  the 
love  of  God  and  salvation  from  sin. 

As  a visitor  stands  in  the  busiest  part  of  the  City  of 
London  at  noonday  he  hears  the  peal  of  a score  of  church 
bells  ringing  out  the  hour.  Louder  than  all  the  chimes  of 
London  booms  out  the  great  bell  of  St.  Paul’s  Cathedral, 
on  whose  rim,  suspended  high  above  all  other  bells,  are 
engraved  the  words,  “ Woe  is  unto  me  if  I preach  not  the 
Gospel.”  A hundred  lesser  bells  are  ringing  out  the  mes- 
sages of  altruism,  humanity  and  the  brotherhood  of  man, 
but  far  higher  than  these  peals  out  the  glorious  Gospel  of 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  a Gospel  setting  forth  not  an  ideal 
alone,  but  bringing  a strength  into  the  individual  life  for 
the  attainment  of  that  ideal. 

It  is  this  ideal  for  which  the  medical  missionary  lives. 
If  men  and  women  are  going  with  this  message,  it  is 
requisite  that  they  know  very  personally  the  Saviour  of 
whom  they  speak  and  experience  in  daily  life  the  salvation 
which  they,  as  ambassadors,  offer  to  others.  It  is  true 
that  much  of  the  work  is  what  is  termed  secular  and  rou- 
tine. That  is  greater  reason  for  the  medical  missionary 
being  thoroughly  furnished  unto  every  good  work,  and 
having  all  the  checks  and  stimuli  to  be  found  from  a life 
hid  with  Christ  in  God. 

2.  He  should  he  a good  doctor. — “ In  the  mission  field 
he  will  be  thrown  back  on  his  own  resources.  He  is  often 
alone  in  face  of  the  gravest  responsibilities.  He  is  not 
sustained  by  an  educated  public  sentiment  which  will  in- 
sure for  him  an  enlightened  and  charitable  view  of  all  that 
he  does.  He  is  surrounded  by  envious  charlatans,  who 


An  Appeal 


89 


will  spare  no  efforts  to  injure  him  by  detraction  and  mis- 
representation. In  such  circumstances  he  has  need  of  all 
the  knowledge  and  skill  furnished  by  a thorough  medical 
training,  of  all  the  resources  of  a well-balanced  mind  and 
a courageous  heart.  His  failure  will  not  injure  him  alone. 
His  success  will  advance  the  cause  of  Christ.”  * 

Professional  efficiency  does  not  necessarily  mean  pro- 
fessional celebrity.  It  means  a thorough,  all-round  med- 
ical education,  such  as  any  diligent  student  may  secure  by 
a four  to  five  years’  curriculum  in  a high-grade  medical 
college.  A year’s  hospital  or  post-graduate  experience  will 
be  a very  valuable  addition  to  such  a course.  In  any  case  suf- 
ficient knowledge  should  be  gained  to  insure  personal  confi- 
dence and  progressive  efficiency  when  on  the  field.  The  large 
amount  of  surgical  and  ophthalmic  work  to  be  done  will 
naturally  suggest  those  subjects  as  worthy  of  specialization 
in  theyearafter  graduation.  Do  not  let  any  think  that  their 
brilliant  talents  will  be  wasted  and  find  no  adequate  field 
of  effort  in  this  work.  The  highest  and  best  is  too  low 
and  too  poor  for  the  Master’s  royal  service. 

Harold  Schofield  did  not  throw  away  his  talents,  which 
had  won  him  $7,000  in  prizes  and  scholarships,  when  he 
went  out  to  China  and  lived  and  died  there  inside  of  a 
decade.  China  is  still  feeling  the  vibration  of  that  heart 
beat ; the  stray  snatches  of  music  in  scores  of  lives  have 
reset  themselves  into  a scheme  of  a higher  and  more  con- 
sistent harmony,  through  the  controlling  influence  of  his 
life’s  song. 

Is  it  a light  or  irresponsible  work  that  any  should 
fancy  the  best  is  far  too  good  for  use  where  the  remunera- 
tion is  but  that  of  a satisfied  conscience  and  a heart  filled 
with  the  quiet  joy  of  being  serviceable?  Ruskin  says 
finely,  “ It  is  an  incomparably  less  guilty  form  of  robbing, 
to  cut  a purse  out  of  a man’s  pocket  than  to  take  it  out  of 
his  hand  on  the  understanding  that  you  are  to  steer  his 
ship  up  channel,  when  you  do  not  know  the  soundings. 
The  medical  man  has  precious  human  ships  to  steer  up  the 
channel  of  disease,  which  is  studded  with  rocks  and  shoals, 
to  the  harbor  of  health,  and  heavy  and  stringent  is  the  ob- 
ligation that  rests  upon  him  to  make  himself  intimately  ac- 
ts. E,  Pott,  M.D.,  Beyrout, 


9©  The  Healing  of  the  Nations 

quainted  with  its  pathological  soundings ; only  by  assid- 
uous and  prolonged  study  can  he  hope  faithfully  to  pre- 
pare himself  for  his  work.” 

3.  Good  health. — Clearly  the  work  is  intense  with 
heavy  responsibilities.  Physically  and  mentally  he  is  ever 
subject  to  an  exceptional  strain.  “Add  to  this  the  enerva- 
tion of  a foreign  climate  and  the  occasion  for  sound 
health  is  at  once  manifest.  The  student  who  is  able  at  the 
present  time  to  endure  the  pressure  of  a three  or  four 
years’  medical  course  in  addition  to  a preliminary  educa- 
tion without  impairment  of  his  general  health  or  nervous 
system,  will  promise  well  for  successful  endurance  on  the 
foreign  field.  It  is  not  always  necessary  that  a student 
possess  an  athletic  physique  or  robust  appearance,  but 
the  work  does  call  for  the  power  of  endurance,  a tempera- 
ment neither  nervous  nor  phlegmatic,  a disposition  devoid 
of  irritability,  but  hopeful  and  courageous.  An  extraor- 
dinarily healthy  appearance,  though  desirable,  is  not  al- 
ways demanded,  but  good  staying  qualities  are  indispensa- 
ble. It  is  not  always  those  who  apparently  are  best  fitted 
to  withstand  the  strain  of  work  and  climate  that  actually 
enjoy  the  best  health.  Indeed  the  reverse  is  often  the 
case.  A previous  record  of  good  health  under  continued 
mental  pressure  and  physical  trial  at  home  augurs  well 
for  continued  good  health  abroad,  and  is  probably  the  best 
guide  in  the  decision  as  regards  bodily  endurance 
abroad * 

4.  It  is  desirable,  though  not  essential,  that  the  mis- 
sionary doctor  be  apt  to  teach.  “ He  is  often  the  enter- 
ing wedge  for  others,  he  is  a buttress  to  his  evangelistic 
colleagues,  he  is  often  preaching  best  when  practising  in 
the  name  and  spirit  of  Christ.  But  if  he  has  also  the  gift 
of  speech,  not  necessarily  of  making  speeches,  but  of  apt, 
ready  use  of  his  opportunities  by  well-chosen  words  of 
sympathy,  advice,  rebuke,  instruction  and  inspiration,  his 
influence  will  be  two-fold.  For  this  purpose  he  should  be 
specially  grounded  in  the  Scriptures  and  imbued  with  the 
spirit  of  prayer.  As  his  acumen  in  diagnosis  is  only  a 
prelude  to  his  skill  in  prescribing  the  medicine  or  per- 
forming the  operation  which  offers  hope  and  life,  so 

* The  Medical  Mission.  W.  J.  Wanless.  Pages  72,  73.  The  italics  are  our  own. 


An  Appeal 


9i 


should  his  spiritual  insight  into  the  wants  of  his  patient 
be  a preparation  for  the  words  which  may  reform  his  life 
and  save  his  soul.” 

We  have  seen  the  need  of  the  heathen  world ; we 
Appeal,  hayg  realized  a little  of  the  value  of  Medical  Mis- 
sions, directly,  indirectly  and  reflexly. 

What  are  we  going  to  do?  Shall  we  stay  here  in 
America,  where  there  is  a physician  to  about  every  550 
people,  or  shall  we  go  to  India,  where  it  is  estimated  by  no 
less  an  authority  than  Sir  William  Moore  that  not  5 per 
cent,  of  the  population  is  at  present  reached  by  medical 
aid?  It  is  stated  that  even  in  Calcutta,  one  of  the  best 
medically  equipped  cities  of  Asia,  three-fifths  of  the  peo- 
ple have  no  medical  attendance  in  their  last  illness.  And 
this  in  India,  with  her  government  hospitals  and  dispen- 
saries and  her  magnificent  Lady  Dufferin  Scheme  of  re- 
lief. Do  we  not  hear  the  mute  appeal  from  China?  In 
North  America  there  are  considerably  more  than  4,000 
physicians  to  every  two  and  a half  million  people.  China 
has  but  one  medical  missionary  for  a similar  population, 
though  her  need  is  a hundred-fold  greater.* 

We  have  in  addition  to  the  physicians  our  great  hos- 
pitals, nursing  institutions,  orphanages,  convalescent 
homes,  and  homes  for  the  incurable  and  dying.  We  have 
the  knowledge  of  the  laws  of  health,  hygiene  and  sanita- 
tion. If  recovery  of  a friend  is  unsatisfactory,  there  are 
specialists  and  consultants  by  the  score  in  our  great  cities, 
whose  help  may  be  secured.  Skilled  nurses  are  obtain- 

* “ The  following  statistics  include  data  which  have  been  verified  and  may  stand  as  a 
fairly  approximate — not  absolutely  complete — representation  of  the  philanthropic 
agencies  of  missions.  The  total  of  medical  missionaries  at  present  is  680  ; of  this  num- 
ber 470  are  men  and  210  women.  There  are  45  medical  schools  and  classes,  with  382 
male  and  70  female  students — making  a total  of  461.  There  are  21  training  schoo's  for 
nurses,  witn  146  pupils.  Neither  of  these  statements  includes  240  female  medical  stu- 
dents now  in  training  as  physicians,  nurses  and  hospital  assistants,  under  the  care  of  the 
Lady  Dufferin  Association  in  India.  There  are  348  hospitals  and  774  dispensaries. 
Exact  statements  as  to  the  number  of  patients  annually  treated  have  been  obtained  from 
293  hospitals  and  661  dispensaries,  the  total  patients  recorded  in  these  returns  being 
2,009,970,  representing  5,087,169  treatments.  If  we  make  a proportionate  estimate  for 
the  55  hospitals  and  113  dispensaries  from  which  reports  of  the  number  of  patients  have 
not  as  yet  been  received,  tne  sum  total  of  those  annually  treated  will  be  not  far  from 
2,500,000.  If  we  allow  an  average  of  three  separate  visits  or  treatments  for  each  patient 
the  total  of  annual  treatments  will  be  7.500,000.  There  are  97  leper  asylums,  homes  and 
settlements,  with  5453  inmates,  of  whom  1087  are  Christians.  There  are  227  orphan  and 
foundling  asylums,  with  14,605  inmates/  (Christian  Missions  and  Social  Progress, 
Yol.  II.  Dr.  jas.  S.  Dennis.) 


92 


The  Healing  of  the  Nations 


able  at  an  hour’s  notice,  and  the  presence  of  sickness  in 
our  midst  draws  forth  at  once  the  tenderest  of  care  and 
sweetest  forethought  from  relatives  and  friends.  It  does 
not  state  the  case  therefore  to  look  merely  at  the  lack 
of  doctors  alone,  though  that  is  to  pronounce  China’s  need 
as  four  thousand  times  greater  than  our  own.  Her  cry 
is  loud  and  long  and  so  few  hear  or  heed. 

Accountability  is  equal  to  capability.  Our  training  in 
the  school  of  sympathy,  our  knowledge  of  the  remedial 
agents  of  disease  and  our  personal  realization  of  the  need 
of  sin  for  a supernatural  salvation  constitute  a call  from 
God.  Coal  on  a great  vessel  is  only  so  much  ballast  un- 
til turned  into  steam.  So  these  talents  given  by  the  Spirit 
of  God  are  only  ballast  in  our  lives  till  employed  for  the 
highest  purposes  for  which  they  were  granted. 

If  the  reader  is  a follower  of  Christ,  it  is  to  Christ  that 
he  must  look  for  instruction  as  to  his  life-work.  We  have 
no  right  to  drift  into  it  through  forces  of  environment  or 
heredity ; nor  have  we  a right  to  choose  it  because  it 
pleases  our  scientific  tastes  or  because  it  offers  a congenial 
employment  with  pecuniary  remuneration,  and  social 
status.  Before  all  or  any  of  these  things  must  be  heard 
the  definite  asking  of  God  for  the  light  of  His  plan  for  our 
lives.  “ Every  man’s  life  is  a plan  of  God,”  and  until  that 
is  seen  let  us  not  step  into  our  life-work.  Emerson  says 
that  the  great  crises  of  life  are  not  marriages  and  deaths, 
but  some  afternoon  at  the  turn  of  a road  when  your  life 
finds  new  thoughts  and  impulses.  Such  crises  occur  as 
a man  hears  the  strong  crying  of  a great  need  unrealized 
before,  and  which  he  is  conscious  could  be  met  by  his  own 
life  service. 

In  some  great  hospitals  a bell  is  rung  each  time  an  ac- 
cident case  arrives.  Can  you  not  fancy — and  after  all  it 
is  not  very  largely  imagination — that  you  hear  the  sound 
of  that  accident  bell,  reverberating  round  the  world? 

Did  you  hear  it  just  now — it  was  from  China  that  the 
sound  came.  A poor  Chinaman  has  fallen  from  a tree 
and  injured  himself.  A crowd  gathers  round ; they  gaze 
and  laugh  at  his  sufferings,  and  when  they  have  had 
enough,  move  off  and  leave  him  to  die.*  Exaggeration, 


* This,  and  each  of  the  following  cases,  is  a fact. 


An  Appeal 


93 


•you  say?  No,  sober  truth;  there  is  no  Red  Cross  man 
there  to  take  him  to  a hospital,  no  ambulance  to  carry  him, 
no  hospital  to  which  to  take  him.  If  he  cannot  move,  his 
fellow  countrymen  will  not  help  him.  He  will  lie  there 
and  die. 

The  bell  is  ringing  in  India.  A boy  has  broken  his 
leg.  A string  will  be  tied  tightly  round  the  fractured 
limb  until  at  last  gangrene  sets  in  and  a foreign  doctor 
is  sent  for  to  amputate  in  order  to  save  his  life. 

The  sound  of  the  bell  in  Persia  is  wafted  to  us  across 
the  great  plains  and  mountains  of  Asia.  It  tells  of  a 
woman  in  the  hour  of  nature’s  sorest  trial.  The  husband 
is  by  and  also  a medical  missionary.  “ No,  thanks ; you 
needn’t  trouble  to  operate;  it’s  only  a wife;  I can  easily 
get  a new  one,  and  I want  a change.” 

Now,  it  is  booming  and  tolling  in  Africa,  for  a child 
in  convulsions.  What  is  to  be  done?  A red-hot  iron 
is  pressed  to  the  skull  till  a hole  is  burned  down  to  the 
brain  to  let  the  demons  out.  Why  not,  it’s  only  a girl;  let 
her  die. 

The  bell  sounds  clearer  and  nearer  now ; it  is  ringing 
in  a city  of  America.  Some  poor  fellow  has  had  his  arm 
wrenched  off  by  machinery.  What  is  going  to  be  done? 
He  is  taken  to  a hospital,  an  interne  or  house  surgeon  sees 
him,  a nurse  is  there  to  carefully  tend  him,  to-morrow 
he  will  be  seen  by  a visiting  surgeon.  If  it  is  an  operation, 
it  will  be  done  under  an  anaesthetic. 

It  rings  again  in  the  home  land;  this  time  a child  is 
sick.  If  it  is  a poor  child,  our  splendid  children’s  hospi- 
tals are  open  for  its  reception.  If  it  is  the  child  of  rich 
parents,  the  nursery  will  be  made  bright,  relatives  and 
friends  will  bring  flowers  and  toys  and  fruit;  a trained 
nurse  will  be  y to  relieve  every  discomfort  and  a physi- 
cian stands  there  doing  his  noble  best  for  the  little  life 
which  hovers  on  the  borderland  of  life  and  death.  And 
all  for  a little  child. 

It  rings  once  more  a loud  and  urgent  summons.  A 
sister  in  the  pangs  of  motherhood.  Thank  God,  there  are 
gentle  voices,  hushed  footsteps,  the  skill  and  care  of  doc- 
tor and  nurse — all  these  are  immediately  and  as  a simple 


94 


The  Healing  of  the  Nations 


right  bestowed  on  her  and  on  the  little  life  for  whose  sake 
she  is  in  sore  travail.  Thank  God  it  is  so ! 

Brothers,  and  sisters,  why  this  difference?  Has  the 
voice  of  Jesus  become  so  feeble  that  we  cannot  hear  it? 
Or,  are  we  standing  out  of  hearing  distance  ? These  are 
no  imaginary  instances ; they  are  real.  Thousands  are 
dying  every  day  because  Christian  physicians  have  pre- 
ferred to  stay  at  home  and  fight  for  a living  with  fellow 
practitioners,  instead  of  forsaking  all  to  follow  our  Lord 
and  fight  the  battles  of  the  King.  Do  you  think  that  if 
you  go  there  will  be  a single  case  untended,  a single  acci- 
dent untreated?  You  know  that  scores  are  pressing  and 
pushing  behind  you  and  will  take  up  all  the  work  that  you 
lay  down.  But  over  there — if  you  neglect  the  opportu- 
nity of  this  love-service,  they  must  suffer  in  unrelieved 
pain,  and  if  death  occur,  there  will  be  no  comforter  at 
hand  to  point  them  to  the  Guide  of  the  shadowed  valley. 
Not  because  of  the  needs  of  the  heathen,  not  because  of 
their  ignorance  or  superstition  or  cruelty,  but  for  the  sake 
of  Him  Who  loved  us  and  gave  Himself  for  us,  shall  we 
not  go? 

Duty,  opportunity,  altruism  are  in  themselves  motives 
insufficient  to  impel  us  forward  with  fire  and  fervor  which 
shall  stand  the  strain  and  stress  of  disappointment  and  in- 
gratitude and  fatigue.  There  is  but  one  motive  powerful 
enough ; it  is  the  greatest  thing  in  the  world — Love. 

What  holds  us  back?  A silver  dollar,  a medical  di- 
ploma, a life  of  comfort  or  distinction — these  may  loom  so 
large  in  our  vision  as  to  shut  out  the  face  of  Jesus  as  He 
bends  in  compassion  over  the  suffering  ones  and  turns  to 
us  with  that  piercing  look  and  says,  “ Inasmuch — inas- 
much— as  ye  did  it  not  ...  ye  did  it  not  unto  Me.” 
If  He,  the  Master  of  men,  were  here  on  earth  to-day  and 
wandered  into  one  of  our  out-patient  departments,  would 
not  we  esteem  it  a royal  privilege  to  bind  up  a finger  of  the 
Lord  Christ,  to  be  even  for  once  His  court  physician? 

And  this  is  the  privilege  to  which  He  invites  us,  if  we 
would  hear  some  day  those  other  words : “ Inasmuch  as 
ye  did  it  unto  one  of  these,  My  brethren,  even  these  least, 
ye  did  it  unto  Me.” 


An  Appeal 


95 


“ God  said  : * Break  thou  these  yokes  ! Undo 
These  heavy  burdens  ! I ordain 
A work  to  last  thy  whole  life  through — 

A ministry  of  strife  and  pain. 

“ ' Forego  thy  dreams  of  lettered  ease  ; 

Put  thou  the  scholar's  promise  by  ; 

The  rights  of  man  are  more  than  these.’ 

He  heard  and  answered,  ‘ Here  am  I.’  ”* 


* The  author  Is  indebted  for  some  of  the  illustrations  used  in  this  last  section  to  " A 
Cry  of  Pain,”  by  Miss  Garvock,  Church  Missionary  Society,  England. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


Note. — The  literature  on  Medical  Missions  is  not  large.  Much  of  it 
is  in  the  form  of  biographies  of  missionary  physicians.  It  does  not,  there- 
fore, provide  a great  deal  of  available  material  for  the  study  of  the  subject 
per  se. 

With  the  exception  of  biographies,  the  literature  is  also  for  the  most 
part  contained  in  magazines  and  periodicals.  It  would  obviously  be  use- 
less to  give  numerous  references  to  denominational  magazines,  as  very  few 
colleges  have  the  past  files  of  many  missionary  periodicals  issued  by  the 
numerous  boards. 

For  these  reasons  it  is  suggested  that  each  study  class  secure  and  use 
three  pamphlets  along  with  the  foregoing  chapters. 

These  pamphlets  are  : 

The  Medical  Mission,  by  W.  J.  Wanless,  M.D. 

The  Medical  Arm  of  the  Missionary  Service.  (A.  B.  C. ) 

Murdered  Millions,  by  Geo,  D.  Dowkontt,  M.D, 

Files  should,  if  possible,  be  obtained  of  the  following  medical  mis- 
sionary magazines  : 

The  Double  Cross  and  Medical  Missionary  Record. 

Medical  Missions  at  Home  and  Abroad. 

Frequent  reference  will  also  be  made  to  “Medical  Missions  : Their 
Place  and  Power,”  by  J.  Lowe. 

Additional  Readings  for  Chapter  I. 

Barnes,  I.  H.  : Behind  the  Great  Wall.  1896.  pp.  113,  114. 

Bird-Bishop,  Isabella  : Korea  and  Her  Neighbours.  1897.  pp. 
202-204. 

Double  Cross,  The  : Oct.,  1896,  p.  216  ; March,  1897,  p.  59  ; April, 
1898,  pp.  IIS,  119- 

Dennis,  James  S. : Christian  Missions  and  Social  Progress.  1898. 
pp.  187-189,  191,  193,  198. 

Douglas,  R.  K.  : Society  in  China.  1894.  p.  115. 

Dowkontt,  Geo.  D.  : Murdered  Millions.  1897  ed.  pp.  20-25, 

27,  59-6i. 

Gale,  J.  S.  : Korean  Sketches.  1898.  pp.  34-36. 

Gospels,  The  Four. 

Lowe,  J.  : Medical  Missions.  1887.  pp.  I-23,  147-164. 

Medical  Arm  of  the  Missionary  Service,  The  : 1898  p.  5. 

Medical  Missions  at  Home  and  Abroad:  June,  1894,  p 133;  Feb., 
1896,  p.  69. 

Student  Volunteer : Nov.,  1897,  p.  21. 

Wanless,  W.  J.  : The  Medical  Mission.  1898.  Chapters  I.  and  II. 

Williams,  S.  W. : The  Middle  Kingdom.  1895.  Vol.  I.,  p.  376  ; 
Vol.  II.,  pp.  122,  123. 


Bibliography 


Additional  Readings  for  Chapter  II. 

Balfour,  Edw.  : Cyclopedia  of  India.  1871-3.  Article,  Medicine. 
Barnes,  I.  H.  : Behind  the  Pardah.  1897.  p.  178. 

Bryson,  M.  I.  : John  Kenneth  Mackenzie  (n.  d. ).  pp.  287,  288. 
Christie,  Dugald  : Ten  Years  in  Manchuria  (n.  d. ).  p 85. 
Dennis,  James  S.  : Christian  Missions  and  Social  Progress.  1898. 
Vol.  I.,  pp.  102,  103,  no,  187-189,  192,  198,  207  210,  212. 

Double  Cross  : May,  1896,  p.  91. 

Dowkontt,  Geo.  D.  : Murdered  Millions.  1897  ed.  pages  28-54. 
Lowe,  J.  : Medical  Missions.  1887.  pp.  164-169. 

Missionary  Review  of  the  World:  Sept.,  1895,  pp.  679,  680,  688; 
Sept.,  1896,  pp.  672-674;  Feb  , 1897,  p.  159. 

Wanless,  VV.  J.  : The  Medical  Mission.  1898.  Chapter  III. 
Women  in  Missions,  p.  150. 

Additional  Readings  for  Chapter  III. 

British  Medical  Journal : Dec.  17,  1898,  p.  1857. 

Browning,  Robert  : Poem,  The  Strange  Medical  Experience  of 
Karshish. 

Bryson,  M.  I.  : John  Kenneth  Mackenzie  (n.  d ).  p.  177. 

Centenary  Conference  on  Foreign  Missions,  London  : 1888.  Vol.  I., 
p.  384. 

Dowkontt,  Geo.  D.  : Murdered  Millions.  1895.  pp.  62-68,  74-86. 
Encyclopedia  of  Missions  : 1891.  Vol.  II.,  p.  52. 

Lowe,  J.  : Medical  Missions.  1887.  pp.  171-174,  51-87  ; chapters 
IV.,  V. 

Medical  Arm  of  the  Missionary  Service,  The  : 1898.  pp.  35,  37- 
40,  52. 

Missionary  Review  of  the  World:  Sept.,  1895,  p.  719. 

Pennell,  T.  L.  : An  Episode  of  the  Afghan  Medical  Mission  (n.  d. ). 
pp.  1-12. 

Tracy,  C.  C.  : Talks  on  the  Verandah.  1893.  pp.  223,  224. 
Wanless,  W.  J.  : The  Medical  Missions.  1898.  Chapters  IV. -VIII. 
Wanless,  W.  J.  : Medical  Missions,  Facts  and  Testimonies. 
Wanless,  W.  J.  : Medical  Mission  Work  in  India  (n.  d.). 

Additional  Readings  for  Chapter  IV. 

Acland,  Sir  Henry  : Medical  Missions  in  relation  to  Oxford.  1898. 
p.  27. 

Centenary  Conference  on  Foreign  Missions,  London,  1888.  Vol.  II. 
p,  no. 

Coltman,  R.  : The  Chinese.  1891.  p.  175. 

Dennis,  James  S.  : Christian  Missions  and  Social  Progress.  1898. 
Vol.  I.,  pp.  120,  121,  125. 

Dowkontt,  Geo.  D. : Murdered  Millions.  1895.  pp.  86-88. 
Graves,  R.  H.  : Forty  Years  in  China.  1895.  pp.  237,  248. 
Laurie,  T.  : Missions  and  Science.  1885.  pp.  125,  408,  411,  415. 
Lowe,  J.  : Medical  Missions,  1887.  Chapter  VII. 

Medical  Arm  of  the  Missionary  Service,  The  : 1898.  pp.  52-54. 
Woman  in  Missions,  pp.  154,  156. 


Bibliography 


Additional  Readings  for  Chapter  V. 

Douglas.  R.  K.  : Society  in  China.  1894.  p.  152. 

Dennis,  James  S.  : Christian  Missions  and  Social  Progress.  1898. 
Vol.  I.,  pp.  120,  121. 

Foster,  A.  : Christian  Progress  in  China.  1889.  p.  207. 

Medical  Arm  of  the  Missionary  Service,  The  : 1898.  pp.  28,  29,  31. 
Medical  Missions  at  Home  and  Abroad:  March,  1892,  p.  86;  June, 
1894,  P.  33- 

Missionary  Review  of  the  World : Sept.,  1895,  p.  679. 

Outlook:  Sept.,  1897,  pp.  167-172. 

Thoburn,  J.  M.  : India  and  Malaysia.  1892.  p.  384. 

Women  in  Missions,  pp.  160,  169. 

Wanless,  W.  J. : The  Medical  Mission.  1898.  pp.  25-27. 

Additional  Readings  for  Chapter  VI. 

Beach,  H.  P.  : Dawn  on  the  Hills  of  T‘ang.  1898.  pp.  117,  118. 
Double  Cross,  The:  May,  1896,  p.  104;  Sept.,  1896,  p.  187;  July, 

1898,  p.  ill  ; Sept.,  1898,  p.  145. 

Dowkontt,  Geo.  D.  : Murdered  Millions.  1895.  pp.  12-19,  95,  96. 
Isaiah,  Chapter  LXI. 

Lowe,  J.  : Medical  Missions.  1887.  pp.  263-283. 

Luke,  Chapter  XVI.  14-18. 

Matthew,  Chapter  XXV.  31-46. 

Medical  Arm  of  the  Missionary  Service,  The  : 1898.  pp.  12,  13. 
Medical  Missions  at  Home  and  Abroad : August,  1890,  p.  164  ; Jan., 

1899,  p.  235. 

Phelps,  Elizabeth  Stuart  : The  Story  of  Jesus  Christ.  1898.  pp. 
135-160. 

Wanless,  W.  J.  : The  Medical  Mission.  1898.  Chapters  X.,  XI. 


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